Cabelas store in East Hartford

[Todd K]

Anyone here anything more about the Cabelas in East Hartford? When will building start?

[treehooker]

Fly
There isn't much public information being released about the proposed Cabelas. ING already pulled out of the "deal" to build there, which may be an indication about where development there is going.
This is part of a fairly ambitious program proposed for the site, which is supposed to include research facilities sponsored by UCONN in cooperation with private business (read "United Technologies"), and a luxury home complex, as well as a private lake, which I guess is supposed to be used by Cabelas.

There was some activity there about a month ago, but that appeared to be more a survey for the new road at the south end of the property, and Cabelas was supposed to be located just behind the stadium, which is at the north end.

The land has become something of an urban wildlife refuge since flight operations were outsourced from the air field. I've observed turkey, red fox(some exceptionally handsome specimens), white tailed deer, coyote, raccoon, opossum (some exceptionally ugly specimens), and beaver on the property, as well as birds of prey.
However, the main environmental objection seems to be coming as a result of birders. It seems that the site, which is 3/4ths grassland slowly reverting to forest, hosts a variety of birds. I know nothing about ornithology, but I spoke to an avid birder last Fall who was observing two species of bird which are rare in Connecticut on the property. The Audubon Society surveys the area on a regular basis, or at least they did for a couple of years--they may not have access any more, because.....
There was a news report about two months ago that there was some political pressure to provide an alternate habitat for the birds there before construction begins.
Personally, I'm not sure how you would relocate the birds, assuming you could find the appropriate habitat and convince the taxpayers to buy it. Seems a bit impractical to me.

[bilco1]

Email I recieved from Cabelas, stated Oct.as to be opening date.

[bilco1]

Forgot to mention day Oct 19th is the day they stated.

[Klinkhamer]

According to their site its Oct 19th.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/community/aboutus/retail-detail.jsp?detailedInformationURL=/cabelas/en/content/community/aboutus/retail/retail_stores/easthartford/easthartford.html&cm_re=retail*left*easthartford

[Todd K]

wow old thread....

A source(Cabelas employee) told me the 17th. Maybe he starts the 17th.

[Flyone73]

It opens the 19th. The ribbon cutting ceremony is on the 18th. Should be a cool store to poke around in.

[Catch 22]

I got something in the mail from them last week for some kind of "preferred customer" opening on the 17th. I'm not really sure why I received it, since I don't buy much from them. However, the rest of you "common folk" will have to wait until the 19th. :)

Jeff

[pvansch1]

Rumor has it, it open to those who walk in, don't qoute me on that, but a co-worker said he was in there last week-end. 19th is the "Grand Opening"

[Catch 22]

Oh, well. So much for the special invitation thing.

On another note, does anybody have an idea how big of a flyfishing department they will have? Just curious, as I don't really plan on traveling to E Hartford for anything, with 5 fly shops within a 1/2 hour of me.

Jeff

[Heckler]

I know the personal invites have gone out.

[Ghostrydr]

and traffic signs, the 19th will be challenging from a traffic perspective when it opens in conjunction with a UCONN football game...

[flygirl]

So....whos going to be braving the crowds ? I won't go near it till next week...but I still plan on buying most of my tying /fly gear from the small local shops. I just placed an order from J.stockard after seeing & comparing the quality of their bucktails to Cabelas. Good luck to those who go & let us know what you think.

[Jon]

I say - support your local guys! (And if Cabelas is local, groovy).

K

[Todd K]

OF COURSE suport your local shops. The fact of the matter is the little shops don't always have what you need...I guess you could have them order stuff for you.

I'm looking forward to taking my kids. It looks like they have a massive display of animals and tanks with live fish.

[streamstomper]

I will definitely be going. I have always found that small shops are still the best way to go for fly fishing. Knowledge and service can't be beat. But it great to head to a megastore to find variety. It is like going to Home Depot vs. True Value.

[Ghostrydr]

Plus don't they have elk sandwiches, etc?

[pierce652]

I went to the special opening on the 17th. The store is beautiful and very big. I was kind of disappointed with the fly dept. as it is fairly small. The general fishing section is big but not much emphasis on ff'ing. The flys are about 1.75 per. There wasnt any great sales going on and the bargain cave didnt have a whole lot in it either. Large archery section and gun section. All in all a nice place to have around. I was kind of suprised that I only spent $20 that day. A mix of too much stuff to consider buying to be able to decide and just having bought a new bow...oh well, it was better than going to work.

A friend of mine got to go on the 18th, which was a reception and dinner for all the contractors who worked on the place. A huge spread of game meats and 40% off all Cabela's brand items and 25% off all other items in the store. With that invite I would have done serious damage.

[Todd K]

I took my boys on Saturday. Probably not the best day to go. The lot was full. Crazy how big it was. My boys had a great time looking all the animals and especially the fish tanks! Huge browns, brookies, rainbows. There was even a tiger trout. The other tank had huge Northern Pike, smallies and one mother of a large mouth. Im surprised there were still sunnies in that tank. Oh yes, a couple large carp and catfish.

They had a shooting range you would see at an amusement park. Shoot the little targets and somthing happens. Kids loved that. I could have spent a half day in camping, kayak, fishing, and restaurant sections.

[Klinkhamer]

I'll prob try to go sometime before Christmas. I went to the one in Hamburg, PA on the way back from Philly a couple years ago, and that one was pretty incredible - about 100K sq ft larger than one in E Hartford according to specs online. It was a bit overwhelming actually, and I also only spent about $100 bucks, which was also amazing, since I think I could easily see blowing my whole paycheck there in a nanosecond. Probably should not go shopping at either one after having a few cold ones for sure, then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

[ANeary]

I went last night and have to say it didn't blow me away. I think they try to put too much into 1 store, with boats et all. There is a restaurant, a place to buy fudge, household items , tons of clothing and the hunting stuff is pretty large as is the Spin Fishing supplies. I thought the trout in the fish tank looked pretty poor, not much color to them. As someone else mentioned the flyfishing area was ok but I had expected much much more. I think Grady at upcountry has much more to offer than Cabelas does for Fly Fishing. I guess the other thing that doesn't suprise me but disappoints me is there really isn't a cost savings anywhere when you buy Flyfishing supplies, rods and reels all seem to be pretty much price fixed.

With all that said I will return becasue it's only a few miles from my home and they do carry the basics +.

[flygirl]

I just got back from Cabelas & was ready to drop $100....but couldn't ...I went directly to the Fly Fishing dept & was alittle disappointed. They had alittle bit of everything...But ..Upcountry has more.!! I thought the Hackle selection was poor, as was the Dubbing...very limited. They have a couple of Pontoon boats & it will be interesting to see if they will allow demos in the pond in the back like they said they would with other watercraft.
So I got my fix...it was nice...but I have my Fly shop ,& my mail order supplier but I'm still making a list for the Somerset show...can't wait !!

[Klinkhamer]

I'll go there to see what they might have in the Bargain Cave really, or to get general outdoor gear, etc. Maybe after getting feedback from visitors, they may stockup differently at this location if they know what they are missing. As for Somerset show, a group of us that go every year have not been impressed with it lately. A bunch of us from the local TU chapter here in Albany are likely going to skip it for first time in several years. Seems like the place is more outfitters than suppliers than sellers these days and its getting more expensive too. I enjoy the Marlborough one much better even if its slightly smaller but a nicer drive, unless it snows on the Mass Pike in Western MA during the afternoon, then its a white-knuckler driving home. You aren't as crowded in and you can spend more time visiting with the vendors than rushing from one thing to the next. Supposedly the Danbury show will also be back in Jan 2008, keep an eye out for announcements, it was cancelled last year.

[Rich Strolis]

My buddy went last week and said it was a joke....The Pennsylvania store is way better and he even commented that the employees in PA are much more knowledgeable. I say give it time and let them work out the kinks.

As for the flyfishing show, if you've seen one, you've seen em all...thats my take....I'm not going for at least 5-10 years hoping something new will come down the pike.

[Troutfitter]

I haven't been to the new store yet but will probably do so in the next week. I feel the Cabelas will be a draw for my store.... it should bring people into the area that want to fish. All of you already have the Cabela's catalog and are able to order from them at will so I don't think that I will be losing additional business, in fast I can tell you that many of the sales I made on Sunday were from people who had visited the Cabela's and still had plenty of money burning holes in their pockets.

On the flip side.... I am not taking the presence of the Cabela's sitting down.... our store has been spinning its wheels for a while now and I am moving forward with plans to inventory more merchandise, fly tying materials, and clothing plus work on the customer service. I feel I have let some of you down over the past year as I have concentrated on my home life more than fishing at times.... but have things neatly squared away now and will be getting the store moving in high gear once again.

[The Fisherman]

But you've got GREAT flybin signs. ;-)

Wonderful to see you back here, old friend. I know a lot of our members are big Upcountry fans. As is your humble moderator.

Which reminds me, I gotta come see you about that TFO 10 weight. :-)

[pvansch1]

Grady,
Stopped in your stoe this afternoon, nice conversation with your mom about "Getting teenagers to rake the lawn" while she loaded up my Berkley 540 Hardy Light weight clone with backing,betcha Cabela's can't match that service!!

Keep up the great customer service!!!

[Klinkhamer]

Was pouring rain all day Saturday, so got the Mrs and son and took the 2.5 hour drive over to E Hartford to see it for myself on a whim. Man, it was a zoo getting in with the UConn game across the street only adding to the traffic woes. Had to park in the overflow field and was thankful I have a Subaru because a sedan would need to get towed out of the mud hole this became later on. My car ended up filthy afterwards and our shoes were caked with mud as well. Not good planning here.
Not all that impressed with the fly fishing dept. It had the usual stuff, but they don't carry any rod building gear which surprised me a bit. "Corporate' did not put that inventory on their list, so boooooo on them. pretty basic outlay here.
My son had lots of fun looking at the animals and fish and the Elk sandwich I ate was pretty good in the cafe. The Mrs was impressed with the place too, so that's good enough reason to go back someday. Didn't buy all that much and the kid's pop-guns constantly going off were starting to get on my nerves. If I were a hunter, or tin\bait chucker, that would be a good place to go, but I'd rather buy from a local shop for fly tying\fishing & rod building stuff so far as yet. The store in Hamburg, PA was better and bigger, but its too far a drive for a day-trip. Glad I got it out of my system and will wait till after Christmas season to go back again, perhaps on way back from Marlborough, MA next year. Should be less crowded too.

Cheers,

[Painter]

We had an LL Bean store open in the Albany area a couple of weeks ago. Lots of excitement at first, but it seems to be subsiding. They have some things in their fly shop, but it isn't really well stocked. The fly shop manager told me that he hoped to really expand things. We'll see. At this point the only reason I would shop there over a regular fly shop is if I really need something like a leader or tippet right away, especially because I really hate to go to malls.

I much prefer the "local" fly shops (the closest one to me is in Schenectady, but it is a good one). Not much reason for me to drive all the way to East Hartford when Up Country is between me and there. I have to be in East Hartford on business in a couple of weeks, so I'll stop in to check it out then.

[Riffle]

I, for one, think that everybody should be really nice when speaking of the new store in east hartford on this forum. After all, maybe they'll throw some big corporate bucks into supporting local fisheries. :D

I'm making myself chuckle as I write this, but what if the state sold the naming "rights" to popular pools on the Farmington or Housy. So rather than, say, The Boneyard, we could all fish on "The Boneyard sponsored by Company XYZ."

[Adam Taylor]

Made a quick stop in. Exactly what I anticipated. A huge outdoors shop. If you are looking for a gigantic fly fishing selection...it is not that. Cannot take the place of a dedicated fly shop but does provide options for people.

I will shop there again, but probably not for fly fishing items. Tying materials, etc...I will continue to rely on the local shops.