Local Sportsman's Warehouse opens: worth a visit?

[MillCreek]

From Facebook, of all places, I learn that a Sportsman's Warehouse has just opened a few miles from my office, in a former Sports Authority store.  What says the Collective in terms of selection and prices?  Is it worth a visit?

[mtnbkr]

Definitely.

I find SW much better than Gander Mtn and nearly equal to the smaller Cabela's stores that are opening up all over the place.  Prices are better than Cabela's.  Selection for some things is better than Cabela's and worse for other things (SW is better for reloading, Cabela's is better for fishing, especially fly fishing).  Cabela's has more general shooting stuff (in addition to hunting-specific items). 

I've only been to one SW though.  I've been to 4 Cabela's (3 of the small ones, 1 of the big flagship stores).  I've never purchased a gun at either, but I buy a lot of reloading stuff at both. 

Chris

[AmbulanceDriver]

I love my local SW.   Super friendly gun counter guys, lots of reloading stuff, as well as lots of camping, fishing, archery, etc....  I could spend a couple hours at a time wandering around in there...

[just Warren]

My local one is nice. Big, clean and well-ordered. Much better than Dick's I must say!

They have no used gun section at this one. Is that usual for them or the big box outdoor stores generally?

And wouldn't it be nice if all the major outdoor stores in a given city would co-locate into one mall? 

[AmbulanceDriver]

My local one is nice. Big, clean and well-ordered. Much better than Dick's I must say!

They have no used gun section at this one. Is that usual for them or the big box outdoor stores generally?

And wouldn't it be nice if all the major outdoor stores in a given city would co-locate into one mall? 

Sorry, I believe that would exceed the critical mass of awesome and cause.... well, crap.  something i'm too drunk to think of to happen.  But it would be awesome.   

[mtnbkr]

The SW I go to doesn't have used guns, but Cabela's does (general used racks and the "Gun Library").

As much as I like SW, it does fall short in terms of retail selection compared to a Cablelas even though the physical stores are of similar size (70k-100k square feet of retail space).  However, on similar or identical products, the prices are generally lower at SW, sometimes significantly.  Service-wise, I haven't had issues at either, but Cabela's tends to be more aggressively helpful, if that makes sense.  Cabela's has their own brand of gear crossing many disciplines that is not only high quality, but afforded additional warranty support over other brands in the class.  

That's not a knock against SW though.  SW is head and shoulders above the other competition, including BPS IMO.  Their only direct competitor on a national chain level is Cabela's, the rest are also-rans.

And wouldn't it be nice if all the major outdoor stores in a given city would co-locate into one mall?  

Bass Pro near Baltimore is an anchor store in a mall there.  I don't recall the specific mall, other than it's near Medieval Times.  Seems I've seen another BPS as an anchor store as well.

Chris

[wmenorr67]

Bass Pro near Baltimore is an anchor store in a mall there.  I don't recall the specific mall, other than it's near Medieval Times.  Seems I've seen another BPS as an anchor store as well.

Chris

In the KC area and in Broken Arrow, OK (Tulsa), BPS wasn't an anchor store for a mall but was the anchor for other commercial developments.

[HankB]

There used to be an SW just outside Austin - gun prices were decent, especially when they had storewide sales. Bought a few things there. Good staff, easier to talk to than the people in most little gun shops around here.

But they closed, and the building later became a Gander Mountain. Never bought ANYTHING there due to absurdly high prices. Now GM is closing - or perhaps they already have.

[Ben]

We had a Sportsmans Warehouse show up here about eight years ago - built from the ground up. It was open for around a half year, then went out of business. I never made it in (wasn't living here at the time), but drove by it a couple of times and the lot was packed full both times. I'm perplexed to this day why they shut down so quickly after building a brand new ginormous store.

They are now building another brand new store here, from the ground up again. It looks like it should be done by Fall and since it's going up right next to Costco, I'm sure I'll make it in before they close this time.  

On the Cabelas, I really like their flagship stores, but their smaller stores are kinda "meh" to me. Last May, when I was driving through Utah, I decided to stop in their Farmington store just because I hadn't been there before. It was my first smaller Cabelas other than the one in Eugene, OR. I found it to be something of an upscale Big 5 just in terms of what was in stock. There was a good ammo selection, but in the fishing section for instance, they only had a small selection of stuff like waders and boots compared to their big stores. Given how close it is to the SLC store, I will always stop in SLC when in the area versus the smaller store.

[makattak]

We had a Sportsmans Warehouse show up here about eight years ago - built from the ground up. It was open for around a half year, then went out of business. I never made it in (wasn't living here at the time), but drove by it a couple of times and the lot was packed full both times. I'm perplexed to this day why they shut down so quickly after building a brand new ginormous store.

They are now building another brand new store here, from the ground up again. It looks like it should be done by Fall and since it's going up right next to Costco, I'm sure I'll make it in before they close this time.  

On the Cabelas, I really like their flagship stores, but their smaller stores are kinda "meh" to me. Last May, when I was driving through Utah, I decided to stop in their Farmington store just because I hadn't been there before. It was my first smaller Cabelas other than the one in Eugene, OR. I found it to be something of an upscale Big 5 just in terms of what was in stock. There was a good ammo selection, but in the fishing section for instance, they only had a small selection of stuff like waders and boots compared to their big stores. Given how close it is to the SLC store, I will always stop in SLC when in the area versus the smaller store.

You may not know, but why build from the ground up? Aren't there a lot of closed or closing stores to make use of?

[mtnbkr]

Mak, the SW in Roanoke closed after the Canada acquisition, then reopened in the same building again a couple years ago. :D

Chris

[Ben]

You may not know, but why build from the ground up? Aren't there a lot of closed or closing stores to make use of?

LOTS of them around here. I was perplexed as well on that.

I think at one time somebody around here explained why the (to me) non-intuitive model of building from scratch, even if suitable empty buildings were available, could be better for the business. I think there was also an explanation on the "closing after <1 year" thing as well, but I have forgotten both explanations.

Costco here did something similar. They were already one of the largest Costcos in CA, but chose to move literally 1 mile from their previous location to a new, built from scratch building not much bigger than the old one. The current one has gasoline, so that might have been part of the reason (zoning?) for the move.

[230RN]

Sportsman's Warehouse Thornton No. 119
Thornton Colorado
GPS N 39 51.000 W 104 59.232  
Right off I-25
11 W. 84th Avenue
Thornton, CO
80260-4801
 Tel. (303)428-6500

Had been going there for a very long time, but haven't stopped by in over a year.

Great selection of guns, good reloading supplies, wide variety of outdoor items.

Gun counter sometimes crowded, but they make manful efforts to pay attention to customers.

They have a "safe" target area at which you can point guns.

Archery shop.

They have some great outdoor art for sale.

Only objection is the last time I brought in a cased gun to match a holster for it, they had changed the check-in system from them just checking for loading, they'd put a tag on it, and that was that.

Last time around, they had me come behind the counter, locked the door behind me, and had me go through a whole rigamarole about dry-firing the gun in this little bullet-trap.  They asked if I had any ammo for it, I said yes (in a magazine in my pocket) and they said I couldn't bring the ammo in with me, so I had to go out to the car to park the ammunition.  Hobbling out to my car, I said pisonit and drove off.

I don't know if there was an "incident" that prompted this new rigamarole or what, but I thought it was like visiting an inmate in prison.  They said it was "corporate policy."

I had already declared my carry gun, which was loaded, and that was OK if I wasn't going to withdraw it for any reason.

I don't know if they've changed that system or not since then.  Oh, and one minor thing is you can't make a left turn toward I-25 out of the parking lot.

Otherwise, a great store.

Terry