In the outdoor and sporting retail space, Cabela's has emerged guns ablazing (pun intended). The fifty-year-old company has historically been a catalog retailer and, as of eight years ago, only had 10 retail locations. Since going public in 2004, Cabela's has become the, "Disneyland' for devoted outdoors people," says Ed Finkel of Shopper Marketing Magazine. In a recent article, Finkel breaks down Cabela's commitment to the in-store experience and how updating their fixtures and displays has drastically influenced that experience http://www.p2pi.org/article/124470.
In cities and towns where Cabela's are located, the outdoor enthusiast treats the retail experience like a trip to a mall. Exploring the store can easily take all day. Cabela's stores range in size from 40,000 to 235,000 square feet. Just like the outdoor experiences they supply, the adventure of trekking through one of their stores can work up an appetite. To accommodate, some locations have a full cafeteria and even a Fudge Shop.
While I was visiting with family who live near a Cabela's location, they mentioned visiting the nearby store for a full day as one of their recent weekend activities. They don't hunt, fish or partake in any extreme outdoor activities but just enjoyed walking around the store, having a nice meal and seeing the experience.
In a day and age where people are choosing to avoid retail experiences, crowds and frustrations whenever possible, I would say Cabela's is shooting down the competition in the in-store experience game (pun again intended).
