Yes, S.I.R., it's a real Cabela's

April 24, 2008
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Murray McNeill

1300 Ellice Avenue

Eight months after acquiring a local retailing institution -- S.I.R. Mail Order and Warehouse Sports Store-- U.S. outdoor-industry giant Cabela's Inc. is starting to make its presence known in the Canadian market.

The Nebraska-based retailer plans to use Winnipeg as its beachhead for establishing a national chain of retail stores in Canada. So the first order of business was to firmly establishing its presence in Winnipeg.
The company is spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on a makeover of the S.I.R retail/distribution centre on Ellice Avenue to make it look more like a typical Cabela's store.

The renovations began earlier this month on both the interior and exterior of the 100,000-square-foot building, and will be complete in time for the store's grand opening May 1.

The question that's likely foremost on the minds of many local Cabela's fans is whether the remodelled Winnipeg store will feature the same giant aquarium and "Conservation Mountain" display, which shows hundreds of stuffed animals in their natural habitats, that are found in many of its U.S. locations, including East Grand Forks.

The short answer is 'no."

"We've had lots of people asking about that...," Terry Robinson, general manager of Cabela's Canada/S.I.R. Mail Order, said in an interview Wednesday.

Robinson admitted he would have loved to add those kinds of eye-popping features, but the store isn't big enough to accommodate that plus the tens of thousands of new fishing, camping, hunting and outdoor-clothing items that have been added since it became a Cabela's store.

But he urged customers not to give up hope.

"I'm sure in the coming years we'll be there," he said. "I could see where we'll have to take a look at getting a bigger store. I'm not sure what the time frame will be, but we're tight for space here now."

Robinson said the Winnipeg store has expanded its product offering by more than a third since November -- it now stocks more than 30,000 different items -- and more are arriving every week.

That's why it's reconfiguring its 40,000 square feet of retail space and installing all new display fixtures -- so it can fit everything in and display it all in an eye-catching and customer-friendly way.

Winnipegger Scott Johnston was in the store Wednesday checking out the fishing tackle. He said he liked what he saw, even though the store is still a work in progress.

"I thought it looked really good. The aisles seem more open. It's a very pleasing place to shop."

Johnston was also impressed with the expanded product offering and some of the prices, which he said compare favourably with prices he's seen in some of Cabela's U.S. stores.

Robinson said that's because the Winnipeg store now enjoys the same kind of buying clout Cabela's wields. That means it gets its products for less, and it can pass on the savings to its customers. A higher-value Canadian dollar also helps, he said.

The next step in the evolution of Cabela's Canada is to upgrade the Winnipeg outlet's warehouse and distribution operations over the next couple of years, he said.

"Winnipeg will be our head office and primary distribution centre for Canada. This is where we will run our mail-order business from, and we'll fill all our orders from here."

Once that's done -- he wouldn't say how much the company is spending to do it -- the company will start opening stores in other Canadian cities.

Robinson said it's too soon to say how many, or where they'll be located.

"They'll be phased in as we address the systems issues we need to address," he said. "But within about seven years we should have a good store base across the country."

He said the chain's main competitors locally are retailers like Wholesale Sports and The Fishin' Hole. Nationally, they would include chains like Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart Canada.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

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