Cabela's Grand Junction

I was reading about the Cabela's store that is opening here in Grand Junction in a KJCT news story about the "Big Box store invasion" and I knew I had to blog about the store. Once upon a time, I was an employee of Cabela's, (as was my wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, brother-in-law) so I thought I could bring some different insight to the opening of this particular store brand.

I have always had kind of a love-hate relationship with Cabela's. If you ever heard Tennessee Erine Ford's song "Sixteen Tons", you might understand what I mean. Working at Cabela's was not particularly difficult, in the physical since (I suppose every job has it's days). But the line in the song "I owe my soul to the company store" sure does fit. The Cabela's company headquarters is located in Sidney, NE. Also in Sidney, is a retail store and a huge warehouse complex where orders for the mail order catalog and retail stores are filled. Economiclly, Cabela's "owns" Sidney, NE. Sure there are other businesses there, but only because Cabela's doesn't sell Milk or gasoline.

My job at Cabela's was at the warehouse complex. I worked on the receiving dock. We would get trailers of freight from all parts of the world. Then at the receiving dock we were in charge of counting the freight, insuring it's quality, and enter the data into the inventory (computer system), then directing where the items would be stored. So I got to see everything Cabela's had to offer (at the time). Sometimes I got to see 1,000's of the same item (the singing fish comes to mind). Keep this in mind when you shop at Cabela's, you have a money back guarantee. They do sell some real garbage, but they also sell some quality stuff as well. Be a good customer and use the return policy.

The parts of Cabela's that I love are more personal. One morning, near the Warehouse 7 lunchroom is where I first met, the love of my life. I told the co-worker I was standing next to, that someday that girl was going to be my wife. His words were something like "there is no way you will get her." Well 2 years later we were married.

OK, I'm drifting away from what I wanted to write about. The part of Cabela's that is great for Grand Junction is, that Cabela's brings business. It brings tourists. In Nebraska, the second biggest tourist attraction in the state is, the Cabela's store in Sidney. The largest is the Zoo in Omaha. Of course, that is Nebraska (not a lot to see here....just move on).

The Cabela's store will be small (in comparison to other stores) and in a mall, so I'm not to sure how this store will look in comparison to the big retail stores that Cabela's owns. I do know that it will bring business to town, which will help the local economy and right now I wouldn't complain about any business that wanted to open up in Grand Junction.