Cabela's In Expansion Mode

NEW YORK CITY-Cabela’s, the outdoors retailer known for its 100,000-sf-plus superstores that feature animal taxidermy museums and other grand displays, isn’t slowing down its expansion plans. Executives for the Sydney, NB-based retailer, which currently operates 14 units across the country, could open a store in every state, they revealed yesterday at Thomas Weisel Partners’ Consumer Conference in Manhattan.

“There is a lot of business yet to be taken from the consumer,” said Dennis Highby, the company’s CEO. “I think the market is growing.” He mentioned that Cabela’s doesn’t even have locations yet in California or the Pacific Northwest.

Within the last week officials announced a new store, a 165,000-sf unit in Washington County, WI, that they plan open about a year from now. This year the company has opened four units, most recently a 170,000-sf store in Lehi, UT, in August. Cabela’s has 185,000-sf store under construction in Rogers, MN, and stores planned in East Rutherford, NJ; Gonzales, LA; Glendale, AZ; Hartford, CT; Reno, NV; and Wheat Ridge, CO.