We made the trip down there yesterday, and I gotta tell ya, I was quite disappointed. I've been to the Cabelas in hamburg PA, Wheeling, Ann Arbor, St. louis, and Hudson Estates Illinois. This one in columbus is by far the smallest.
It's always bee fun to go to the store to see the statue in front. Every stores statue is unique to that store. Ours doesn't even have one. Once you get inside you are typically greeted by a huge vaulted ceiling with a mountain in the center of the store. As you work your way around the moutain it is divided into sections with different mounts from around the world. This store has a plain bar joist ceiling, no mountain and very few mounts. Going to the fishing section was always one of the favorites for the kids because of the huge floor to ceiling aquariums full of local game fish species. The aquarium in our, much anticipated, columbus store isn't much bigger than the one in my living room.
If it wasnt for the name cabelas on everything, I would have thought i was in any other box store like dicks, or Gander Mt.
When we visited the store in Illinois, we noticed that the entire second floor had been abandoned. You could climb the stairs and walk around the store, but the vast majority of the floor was blocked of with large screens. We asked one of the employees why, and were told that since the majority of sales were catalouge or online, It just didnt make sense to have a large sales floor and a large inventory of merchandise. i understand that, but for the average guy who cant afford the prices they ask, the only draw to the store itself is the experience of being there. That appears to be lost.
I made the trip down, saw the new store, but if i want to visit another cabelas I will make the drive to WV or MI.
It's always bee fun to go to the store to see the statue in front. Every stores statue is unique to that store. Ours doesn't even have one. Once you get inside you are typically greeted by a huge vaulted ceiling with a mountain in the center of the store. As you work your way around the moutain it is divided into sections with different mounts from around the world. This store has a plain bar joist ceiling, no mountain and very few mounts. Going to the fishing section was always one of the favorites for the kids because of the huge floor to ceiling aquariums full of local game fish species. The aquarium in our, much anticipated, columbus store isn't much bigger than the one in my living room.
If it wasnt for the name cabelas on everything, I would have thought i was in any other box store like dicks, or Gander Mt.
When we visited the store in Illinois, we noticed that the entire second floor had been abandoned. You could climb the stairs and walk around the store, but the vast majority of the floor was blocked of with large screens. We asked one of the employees why, and were told that since the majority of sales were catalouge or online, It just didnt make sense to have a large sales floor and a large inventory of merchandise. i understand that, but for the average guy who cant afford the prices they ask, the only draw to the store itself is the experience of being there. That appears to be lost.
I made the trip down, saw the new store, but if i want to visit another cabelas I will make the drive to WV or MI.
