Cabela’s Inc. followed through on its pledge to cut costs Wednesday by laying off about employees of its corporate staff at locations in Nebraska and Denver, CO, according to local media reports.
The majority of the cuts came at the company’s headquarters in Sidney, NE, but employees working in Lincoln, NE, and Denver, CO, were also affected.
Cabela’s Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer Doug Means told the Sidney Sun-Telegraph that the company’s plans to open 9 to 11 stores a year and occupy a 160,000-square-foot expansion of its headquarters remain on track. Means also said employees who lost their jobs will be paid severance.
Among them were two members of the Sidney City Council, including Cabela’s Corporate Communications Manager Joe Arterburn, the Sun-Telegraph reported.
Cabela’s CEO Tommy Millner told analysts in late July that the company had launched a cost cutting initiative following disappointing second quarter results that lead to an 11.5 percent drop in Cabela’s stock price. Millner attributed lower than expected sales and a decline in margins to weak demand for soft goods sales that prompted the retailer to up its promotional spending. Incentive compensation and labor costs, however, also exceeded expectations. At the time, Millner said the company was looking to cut costs to free up dollars should the promotional environment and margins not improve in the fourth quarter and 2016.
Cabela’s cut its corporate workforce 10 percent in October 2008 as a global financial crisis sent U.S. stock prices and consumer spending plunging.
