I missed this one last month in the Denver Post. With Gander Mountain, Bass Pro and Sportsman’s Warehouse in the market, it’s certainly just a matter of time. Of course the concern locally is what the impact will be on the Sidney store’s traffic if all of those “greenies” don’t have to drive over here.

Last February, a story was published in Golden with rumors of Cabela’s being the anchor of a new development on Coors-owned land in Wheat Ridge along I-70.

The Denver area could soon be a battleground for big-box outdoor retailers as the largest sellers of all things hunting and fishing muscle into town. One new entrant into the market, Bloomington, Minn.-based Gander Mountain, in October will open a 91,000-square-foot store at 14000 E. Jewell Ave. in Aurora. The store, in a vacant Home Base warehouse, will be Gander Mountain’s first Colorado location. Gander Mountain’s move follows a similar one by Springfield, Mo.-based Bass Pro Shops, which plans to open a 130,000- square-foot store at the Stapleton redevelopment in 2005. And Cabela’s – the so-called big daddy of them all – also has the metro area in its sights. “We are interested in Denver. It’s a very good area for us,” said Joe Arterburn, a spokesman for Sidney, Neb.-based Cabela’s. While he acknowledged Cabela’s interest in opening a metro-area store, he said the company doesn’t have any plans it’s ready to discuss. DenverPost.com – BUSINESS

An alert BrandingBlog reader told me about a feature on NPR affiliate KUT last week. The Austin station interviewed the owners of Texas Hatters, a famous custom-hat company located just across the interstate from Cabela’s future Buda site. While the story rambled on for a couple of minutes about the history of the little hat-maker and the famous heads their product adorns, it eventually turned into a whine-fest about roads getting widened and how they’ll have to build a new store at the back of their lot to make room for all the Cabela’s traffic. (and at their own expense!)

HELLO?! How is this an insurmountable problem? You will soon have destination traffic beyond your wildest dreams and you’re complaining to NPR?

Of course, the reporter took the first shot by calling Cabela’s a "symbol of mass production". That’s a new one.

Listen for yourself if you want.

KUT: Texas Hatters (2004-08-23)

Land around the Cabela’s development in Buda is being snatched up fast. Check out this story from the Austin Business Journal.

Buda to get major retail center – 2004-08-30 – Austin Business Journal