Cabela's is in negotiations to build a 150,000-square-foot store near Lehi, Utah, and plans to have it open for business by late 2005. Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2004.
The store, to be built on a 50-acre site on Interstate 15 at the SR92 Alpine Highland Highway interchange in the Traverse Mountain Development near Thanksgiving Point, would be the Nebraska-based Company's thirteenth retail outlet, similar in size to the Cabela's retail showrooms in Owatonna, Minn. and Kansas City, Kan. The newest Cabela's store, a 175,000-square-foot facility in Wheeling, W.Va., opened August 12, 2004.
Dennis Highby, Cabela's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “As we previously stated, we have accelerated our retail store opening plan for fiscal 2005 and are thrilled to announce this new location in Lehi, Utah. This store represents another important step in our ongoing strategy to increase our retail presence across the country. When combined with our two Texas stores that are also scheduled to open next year, Utah will enable us to increase our retail square footage by 43%, bringing total square footage to 1,880,709 in 10 states.”
The Utah store will be built in Cabela's style that evokes the feeling of the outdoors. Cabela's stores are known as top-notch educational and entertainment attractions, mixing a decor of museum-quality animal displays with colorful dioramas, huge aquariums stocked with native fishes and a centerpiece indoor mountain displaying trophy animals interacting in realistic re-creations of their natural habitats.
To operate the new store, Cabela's expects to employ as many as 400 people, who will join the Cabela's family of more than 8,000 employees. Employees are expected to come from Lehi and the surrounding area to join Cabela's family of staff members famous for their outdoor lifestyle and intimate knowledge of outdoor products.
“Our ability to effectively utilize our vast catalog and internet database to help choose locations with a large concentration of our consumers is one of our greatest competitive advantages in the marketplace,” Mr. Highby continued. “The outdoorsmen and women of Utah are valued customers who embrace the Cabela's lifestyle with great enthusiasm, and therefore, we believe that Utah will be another success.”
The Company stated that plans also call for the building of complementary businesses, such as motels, restaurants and other travel-related services, in conjunction with the new store.
