Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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hundreds of miles to visit. Back then the idea of an outdoor-sports-oriented superstore that featured aquariums, taxidermy and even a man-made mountain was so unique — and so profitable — that Cabela's took to replicating the format across the country, usu- ally on the outskirts of cities. Then, five years ago, the company brought in Remington Arms Co. head Thomas Millner as president and CEO. He oversaw three significant changes with regard to store layout and expansion: New stores would henceforth be smaller, new sites would be located at the center of retail development, and new expan- sions would be quicker. The old superstores mea- sured between 125,000 and 250,000 square feet. The new- generation stores range from 40,000 to 125,000 square feet. "If you picked the right loca- tion for a superstore, [they'd be] phenomenal," said Mill- ner. "But the challenge is, if you don't pick the right loca- tion, if the store is a little too far out of town, then that's an awful lot of capital that doesn't perform. We are a public company, and capital performance is important." Millner also thinks that the next generation of stores should be located, not in the A B E l A ' s O p E N E d A 110,000-square-foot store in its sidney, Neb., hometown 20 years ago, a site that hunting-and-fishing enthusiasts were happy to drive even middle of nowhere, where development is often driven by locality incentive mon- ies, but alongside first-class retailers, such as Nordstrom or Costco. "The reason retailers co-exist is that it is good for ev- eryone — there is more foot traffic," said Millner. "If we give good service and have a really interesting environment — with interactive taxidermy, a mountain and an aquarium — we're good." The scent of mountain pine wafts through these second-generation stores. They still boast Cabela's tradi- tional "entertainment value," though the taxidermy has been moved off the walls and onto the buildings' vertical posts — mountain lions now "leap" over the gondolas and aisles, and bears climb the trees that surround a center column. Cabela's even has its own taxi- dermy buyer and has in fact become the go-to place for estate sales wishing C More bang for the buck cabela's is downsizing its stores to boost profitability By Steve Bergsman r e t a i l i n g t o d a y 26 S C t / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 4