Highby Outdoors will be an online outdoors store. I wish them the best. BassPro has already sued and lost.

interesting

Unfortunately - I’ve seen this play out a lot in the past with Mergers/Acquisitions. Often the acquiring company comes in with a level of arrogance that impacts the customer and shopper experience. You can see it with Bass Pro, leveraging their brands ie; Red Head over Guidewear and keeping other brands as Bass Pro exclusive only, killing the Bargain Cave, etc. They lost sight over- “why did we acquire them in the first place”, Cabela’s’ was a formidable competitor- they must have done something right to get to that level. I believe a better approach would’ve been to capitalize on synergies, ie; supply chain, vendor consolidation and geographic consolidation of stores in close proximity by zip code. Rather than ruining the shopping experience. Just my opinion- but it’s not the same.

^^^^ Agreed. Best of luck to highby outdoors

Dumb name...probably too stuck on naming it after themselves. Other than that I hope they do Well.

I find it funny how people on the internet think they know how to run a multi-billion dollar company better than those that are able to afford a multi-billion dollar company.

they got rid of the bargain caves?

The people founding Highby Outdoors are the same people who were running Cabelas. Cabela's selling out ruined the town of Sidney NE and the people are trying to save their town.

Well sir, I do know a dumb sounding name when I hear one and as an online shopper I know a very amateurish looking web site when I see one. A lot of small time lure dealers have better looking websites than that one. IMO the are going to have to step it up if they want to compete with the big boys.

Bass Pro ruined Cabelas.

You guys both completely misunderstood what I was saying. But that's okay.

This makes me happy.
I have not been a big fan of BPS for hunting gear for a long time.
Hopefully they can step up their game to play on the same level (I am cautiously optimistic)
Also, hopefully they can service Canadian customers with the same level of integrity that Cabelas did in the past and not charge extortion rates to do so.

Why would anyone think they this little outdoors start up company would, in any way, compete with Bass Pro? There are countless places online to order the exact same things. This is just one more.

And, themselves!

no trapping supplies

MTP offers trapping supplies.........and they sponsor this trapping forum.

no fly tying or fly fishing, like he said just another online place; can't imagine BP even knowing about them- so we ned to know what was the basis of the suit?

I remember a kid answering an add to sell hand tied flies to the Cabelas bros. real deal soon and I don't blame them they started buying over seas. Im sure the consistency was better as well as supply don't blame them they were on the go and growing it was amazing to see what the two brothers did in a short time to build what they did. About the time they sold out to from what I heard was a Ca. empire things in my opinion went down hill and against my grain. Selling trophy properties and the likes did not sit well with me. I traveled a lot and always stopped in Sidney the best store ever, seems like both Gander Mountain and Bass Pro followed the Cabelas business plan. I will plan on doing business with Highby I like supporting the little guy vs the corporations, they might not be able to make it but I hope so. I have seen Walmart and the big box stores destroy mom and pop business in small communities. I know its business but seems the corporations pay low wages to the workers and the upper crust gets richer. Like trappers they are on the bottom of the food chain.

Wal Mart started as a mom&pop place too. I was there many times as kid buying balsa airplanes. Think Sam went off Ben Franklin's store plan when he expanded. And he made a small community into a Metropolis that is still growing.

I stopped at Sydney several times on my way to WY to trap for cold weather clothing. It was Sydney or mail order only. Couldn't find real cold weather clothing anywhere around here at the time. Back then they sold a rubber boot that came almost to your knee. Had a draw string at the top that worked very well for keeping snow out. Had a liner that was silver on the outside about a half inch thick and white on the inside. They were cheap. 40 bucks. Used them with snow shoes. Great boots. Dry feet. Flat didn't get cold feet. Quit selling them quite a few years ago. wish I knew where I could still buy them.

Good luck with any new business they will need it. Over 60% of new business fail.

They were well on their way before Bass Pro took over.

I looked this up and there are actually two businesses started by former Cabela's managers. this is a man and wife show and the other Nexgen Outfitters started by several other former C's employees https://nexgenof.com
Both were sued on non compete basis and won against BP in De.
Sidney is subsidizing both companies apparently.

Why would anyone buy from either of these places. You can get almost everything on amazon, shipped quickly, at a lower price.

X10000000

Your right about most of that except the lower price.

Herter's starts successful mail order business in 1937
Starts to open brick & mortar stores
Cabela's buys Herter's foam decoy patents and factories
Herter's goes bankrupt in 1981
Bass Pro buys Cabela's
Ex Cabela's employees open mail order business

This business model has come full circle- I hope they do well, the online shopping experience is a little different than it was in 1937 and Amazon is a 900lb gorilla in that space. This is a tough road.

It was supposedly over the non-compete agreement Cabela's signed when they sold out.

For the same reason I buy what I can from our local merchants. The giants just keep getting bigger and at some point will become our only choice, going to be a sad day.

Have you compared Amazon's prices with other sources lately? If you had you would realize they are no longer consistently the cheapest place to purchase stuff and haven't been for a long time.

Wish them luck but realistically this is a tough market. Will be hard to create a very successful business in the long term in the outdoor market. Not crazy about their web page, could use some work. I have not been to Cabelas since the acquisition hoping prices havent changed too much?

I buy from my local hardware store because of the convenience. If I'm working on a project and need something I'd rather drive fifteen minutes than forty minutes to the nearest big box store even if it mean paying a few cents more.

And if you compare prices a lot like I do you'd soon realize that the big box stores are not the cheapest place in town, especially with hardware like nuts, screws, bolt and nails. You can sometimes pay double or more at a big box than at a local store for those items.

And the lumber at the big boxes? Don't even get me started. I have a commercial account at both Lowe's and The Home Depot and I get a 5% discount on everything at Lowe's. Even so, I stopped buying some products, especially sheet goods, from them. The stuff is terrible quality and overpriced. I get good 1/2" plywood at my local suppliers that is significantly lees expensive than Lowe's, even with the discount.

Originally from Revere, MN, so it's a Minnesota name Norwegian at that. I have known them all my life. First met Dennis Highby when he worked for Herters in Mitchell. They folded and was looking for Job when Jim & Dick Cabela found him. They started him out on a pretty small salary. He started making the James River Bear Traps at Vermillion, with a High School friend from the Revere area. Jim & Dick found out and said, whats up with that? Dennis said, I can't raise a family on what your paying me. Cabelas Boys said, we will give you additional 1.5% of total sales from Cabelas, if I'm correct. That was in the early 70's and Dennis done very good for himself till he retired from the position of Cabelas CEO.

Bass Pro taking over Cabelas hurt the Sydney location dearly, and they thought they could give back by starting another business there. I hope it goes well them and the community. I will buy from them in a heart beat!

Most of the stuff on Amazon is being sold by small businesses. Amazon is just an outlet to sell online.

The value proposition for Amazon is Logistics- harder to compete on small parcel freight for some of the littler guys.

Amazon is not a good option for Canadians when it comes to outdoors equipment of any sort. The price gouging and lack of selection make it uncompetitive for most items.
Cabelas Canada at least has sales once in a while.

I'm just not feeling it at Cabelas anymore. I was a little mad after the took my cabelas club Visa and stuck me with a Mastercard with a higher interest rate. I always bought all my hunting stuff from them. In my opinion I always felt that bass pro had cheaper made clothing and such. Now I just order everything thru my buddy at his gun shop he just opened. He has great customer service especially when I can call him when he is closed and he will open up so I can buy something. He is a little higher but when you factor in drive time etc, I'm getting a great deal.

Sidney also was the location of the Cabelas corporate offices (closed now) which employed more than the store, I'm guessing. All Cabelas employees at Sidney were offered a sweet deal from the local Ford dealer, and many of them drove nice new Ford pickups. That's gone now.

That new highly online store sells 16 gauge steel shot ammo and cabelas/bass pro does not. I'll give highly a try.

For the most part Cabelas had a better variety of the merchandise I was looking for. BPS didn't. But my "local" BPS had Goex in stock if I needed it in a pinch.

I can't say I'm thrilled with the merger.

And if enough folks are dissatisfied they will seek other outlets to fulfill their needs.

Highby seems to think they can do that.

I applaud them for giving me another option. Best of luck to them.

Mike

I have lost all interest now that BP has taken over. IMO BP seemed like a southern states store and Cabelas felt like a northern states store for more colder climates. Was able to buy the whipcord wool shirts and pants. I always got both catalogs but always seemed to buy from Cabelas. Basically have switched to LL Bean,woolrich etc for pants and shirts. Eventually I may have to go to BP for a hunting coat but will be good for a few years.