The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Cabela's says (via a facebook reply)they have no plans for Tulsa in 2014. Seems there was mention of a Cabela's store being the anchor for the new development? Any intel to share?

Interesting that you noted they said "none in  2014" instead of no plans at all. With no work started on the Walk yet I wouldn't think that 2014 would be possible anyway.

Nope I just don't see it, even the new little footprint store in Wichita has a bigger footprint than would fit in the Walk development as I have seen the layout presented.

I predict the Tulsa Hills sporting goods store will be Gander Mountain.

I wish we could get an REI instead of these Bass Pro rip offs.

Actually Cabelas pre-dates Bass Pro by 10 years. I agree though, I love REI and wish we could get one here.

If so, this is not exciting news at all.  I wouldn't even step inside. 

The Walk is east of 75 at Olympia.

Retail planned west of 75 at Union on 81st.  Stay tuned.

for an announcement that the 81st street and the 75 bridge are being redone?

Cabela's is superior to all others because of the superior brands they sell. Gander is ok, but they are basically a cheapo store with vats of clearence products. You can get some good deals on fishing louers there if you want to sift through a vat.

I'm up in Denver a lot for work and they just opened their first Cabela's, two locations one on the north side and one on the south side of the metro, and on the opposite side as Bass Pro which is in I70 towards the airport.  Tulsa Hills seems like a logical place for Cabela's eventuallly with Bass Pro in Broken Arrow and good visibility off 75.  REI seems like more of an in-town store, and somewhere like the old Border's on 21st would be perfect for them.

It will never happen, too far out of their area, but I would love a LL Bean store.

While in Maine a few years ago we stopped at their HQ/Campus of stores. Yeah, campus. It was great shopping as everything was spread out. Need hunting gear? It is in that building over there? Need linens and etc for your house? That building over there. Need snow skiing equipment or a canoe? That building over there. Need apparel? That BIG building over there.

Of course we could never had something that large, but a LL Bean store the size of something like Academy or Dick's would be perfect.

I have been ordering from and wearing stuff from LL Bean for over 20 years now and their stuff lasts forever. If it doesn't, I had one shirt that began to fade and get threadbare, their 100% guarantee will replace it.

Bad idea.

81st is too small and would require a new HW75 overpass to widen.

Union is narrower than some of the streets in my neighborhood, and was just recently redone by the city.

The residents are already freaking out at current congestion levels.

Welcome to the world of S. Memorial.
 

S Memorial has more lanes than some area highways. They can hush.

Maybe the city is agreeing to widen the road to accommodate the growth?

Then we would need to ask some hard questions on wasted road funds. Dewey has been all about "we do everything at once" on road projects.

According to the Fix Our Streets website 81st between Union & Elwood was rehabbed at the cost of $900M with a Fall 2011 completion date as part of the 2005 package.  Union was rehabbed from 71st to 81st at the same time at a cost of $850M.

Is there a project in the area that isn't listed?

81st absolutely needs to be widened from at least Union all the way to Elwood.  In my opinion this is great for the city of Tulsa.  New sales tax growth within the city limits and a corridor with great access to downtown.  I know several people that love living in the neighborhood east of Tulsa Hills.  Great local amnesties in their back yard and they all frequent downtown.

Consider this an invitation to visit us in the early afternoon on a weekend or between about 4 PM and 6 PM weekdays.  I've been on vacation the last week and it pretty much stays busy all day.  3 lanes in each direction of pokie okies.

More lanes does not necessarily mean non-congestion.  Ask anyone from southern California.

Remember when there was a big moment of excitement for Dick's Sporting goods?

I wasn't here for that moment, but if that's the case then the excitement bar here must be far lower than I expected.

I may be in the minority, but I like Dick's.



*Don't tell Phil Robertson.

The only thing I have bought at Dick's was a pair of New Balance shoes.  They were more expensive than Academy.  Dick's price looked like list price but Academy discounts about 10% or a bit more.  Guess where I will go next time.
 

Well played.

Goes to the frothing-at-the-mouth obsession we have with jobs, jobs, jobs just for the sake of low paying, minimum wage jobs.  They carry the same "weight" in the Oklahoma psyche as a good, high paying job would.  Regardless of the fact of it being a net loss for the economy in the area.

And we refuse to actually do what it takes to get the good, high paying jobs.  Education, roads, infrastructure, etc - all the things we go on about ad nauseum around here.

Paying any company $25 + million to bring in more minimum wage jobs is ridiculous.

Pretty sure you don't qualify for many subsidies if you pay minimum wage.

It seems, and I may be wrong, that we've handed out some handsome rewards to companies bring in call centers.

Whirlpool got a boon.  As did Kimberly Clark.

And during the Whirlpool "cattle calls", one of the first statements made to the groups of people was that they were NOT oil or airline, and there were not going to be high paying jobs.  Much closer to minimum wage than oil rig people.

A couple of friends were in those cattle calls and both had been laid off from Rockwell as they went away.  Both were offered (and took) jobs at Whirlpool going from about $14 an hour to about $6.50.  I'm betting the pay is better now, but certainly not keeping up with the rest of the economy - like the CEO pay for Whirlpool.

Do it every week.

Only once a week?  What a slacker.  ;D

sometimes more than once a day.

At that time, in what, 1996, that pay was pretty good, considering that the average entry level jobs were ~$5.00/hr, that's what I started out doing shipping and receiving, inventory work and piano delivery at Saied Music. Not to mention that Whirlpool and Kimberly Clark also offered a really good medical package. Kimberly Clark goes back to the mid '80s.

IIRC the big controversy over Whirlpool was not just the tax incentives, but the fact that the construction project went to an out of state company. Yes, local subcontractors were hired, but the bulk of the project was not in state.

$6.50 with benefits still sucks compared to $14 with benefits.  And that is the kind of loss we experienced when they came in - made even worse by the tax incentives.  Why pay big chunks of money to companies to come in and pay substandard wages?

Rather than obsessing about "jobs", why not focus on "good, high paying jobs".  Like the ones we have lost....  First we have to figure out why we lost those jobs and if there was anything Oklahoma and Tulsa could have done differently that would have kept them.  Not much in Rockwell's case.  But cutting spending for education, overburdening existing infrastructure with higher populations of lower paid workers, and actively discouraging business activity (turnpikes for one - especially when ALWAYS under construction) are not good ways to get companies to move here with good jobs.  Micron is a classic case - when they looked at OK and went elsewhere and said publicly and nationally that dealing with OK on a business basis was like dealing with a bunch of kindergarteners.

Any news on if Cabela's is interested in Tulsa?  Their Oklahoma City location is opening soon.

I’d say REI’s announcement along with there being a Bass Pro as well as Gander Mtn, Dick’s, et. al. here, I’d be surprised if they felt Tulsa was a fertile market for them right now. 

Cabela's is a better and larger store than Gander Mountain, Gander is just a smaller discount Bass Pro where Gander cuts into both Bass Pro's and REI's markets. I would not be surprised if they kept REI out of Oklahoma City and that's why we got REI first.

Gander is a completely different concept.  Gander is a gun store.  20% of their wall space is dedicated to firearms.  They also buy and trade guns, something that the other stores say away from.  Because of that, they hire highly experienced firearms experts, including quite a few ex-law enforcement, and military.  You won't find that at a Cabela's or Bass Pro. 

Cabela's is strong in outdoor (thermal) hunting and fishing clothing (or at least they used to be).  I haven't been as thrilled with Cabela's name-brand quality over the past 10 years or so.  They used to be better when they were primarily catalog.  REI dominates the market for expedition gear now.

Bass Pro, is the Walmart of the outdoor outfitters.  They carry lots of cheap, but adequate products.  You don't go to Bass Pro if you are getting outfitted for an Alaskan fishing trip, a mountain climb, or a bear hunt.  You go there to get supplies for a fishing trip with your buddies where you intend to spend more on beer than gear.   

REI is the granola of outfitters. They cater to the serious hiker, camper, and rugged athletes.  They have excellent footwear, clothing and sturdy textile products for protection from the elements. They also have warranties on all of their products that others can't touch.  When you buy from REI, they take the position that your very survival is dependent on the performance of their products. You, of course, pay for this.  They are expensive but worth it if you intend to be more than a casual outdoorsperson.

I have been in cities where all of these stores exist in the same market and do quite well because they cater to very different sportspeople.

I haven't shopped Gander for guns, but I did for a large two burner outdoor stove and their selection was pretty poor as was the build quality for what they did stock. It was a lot of the same stuff you see at Academy. Bass Pro has some decent camping gear, they aren't as good as REI but they are a lot better than Academy and have a better selection than Dicks.

Went to my first Gander store in WI around 4th of July - had no idea they sold used guns, but was pleasantly surprised at their selection.  Not even close to some of the local pawnshops but not too bad.  Should be interesting.

Anyone know what happened to a rumored cabelas in Tulsa? Has anyone heard if they still plan to come? They just opened their OKC store.

See the first post in this thread. Cabela's never had any plans for Tulsa. It was just a rumor that turned out to be Gander Mountain instead. They aren't coming anytime soon as the market is saturated with outdoor hobby stores, even if they are all slightly different.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bass-pro-shops-to-acquire-cabelas-2016-10

So you think this might delay the rumored Cabelas?

 ;D