Cabela's — Local services in Kearney

This review makes me sad it has to go this way. Being an avid outdoorsman from a family of such I have been going to this location for over thirty years. Living in Omaha back then, we didn't have a Cabela's, so when we would come out to visit my Grandparent's farm between Lexington and Cozad, we would make our regular pilgrimage to this store that my father literally referred to as "Mecca". I wish I had understood and cherished what that meant at the time as it truly encapsulated what it felt like. Staff was kind, friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Not so much anymore. I walked through the whole store twice and passed many employees, not one asked me if I needed assistance. Guy at the gun counter was unhelpful, to say the least. Borderline rude. The only person that was decent was Jacqui at Sunglass Hut but she's not even a Cabela's employee so zero points for them there. As an optician and former retail manager I can say I was very pleased with Jacqui's knowledge, professionalism and overall demeanor. She was the only person in the store that asked if I need help while doing my typical browsing of Oakley and Costa inventory. Perhaps y'all could have her train the rest of your staff. Her knowledge level was excellent and I was fairly surprised to learn she had not been working in optical for very long. You can tell she has a knack for fashion and customer service and has dedicated herself to being competent in product knowledge. As someone with a decade in the industry, I was impressed, and that doesn't come easy anymore. I will likely be back to give her my business. For sporting goods though, as I do in Omaha, I'll be going elsewhere. The way the current owners treated the people of Sydney, the undeniable dip in product quality while cost of things such as ammunition continue to rise greater than they are relative to other retailers, the fact that they're the 3rd most taxpayer subsidized retailer in the country while begging every customer for a "donation to their outdoor fund" so they can use your money as a tax write off, or the way they berate every customers about their stupid credit card like no other company I've experienced are all healthy reasons to stay away. This experience was just the icing on that fruitcake of sadness. Three reasons for tree stars. 1. Jacqui, even though she isn't even an employee. 2. Nostalgia. 3. Kearney doesn't need fewer sporting goods stores. I never mention other retailers in my reviews but an exception feels appropriate here in that my experience at Dunham's was entirely opposite of my trip to Cabela's. I hope that my mind changes in the near future as I couldn't help but notice the customer traffic was extremely light. Perhaps there...

Maybe I’ve had stranger shopping experiences in my life, but I sure can’t think of anything right now. The first thing that was weird was how it was set up. There was a big loading dock and a little bitty sign with an arrow to the retail shop. No big entrance for shoppers or anything. We entered the very small doors and were met with about 15 elderly people standing and sitting around kind of blocking our way. They all were wearing lanyards that said Cabelas on them. Nobody moved for us, but we managed to wind our way through them when some guy yelled at us from a cubby hole 15 feet from us, “Are you Cabela’s members?!” No. “Do you want to be Cabela’s members?!” No. Then he said nothing and everyone stared at us. I told my husband I thought this was a place like Sam’s Club where you have to have a membership and he said no, so we went in. Oh my gosh, what a mistake! Not only were those old people with their lanyards everywhere, but they were all staring at us! I am not exaggerating when I say that no matter where we went in that store somebody was staring at us! It was unnerving! We decided to get out of there because we were so creeped out. I looked it up online and apparently the store is not for members only, so I don’t know why everyone had such a problem with us being there. We were relieved to get out and make it to our car before we were sacrificed to the Cabela members’ god. (Btw, we are in our sixties so don’t think I’m using the description of elderly people in a negative way. They, along with the employees we encountered, were just freaking weird!) Also, my husband and I do not...

Absolutely worst customer service I've ever had at a gun counter! I came in ready to buy a specific caliber rifle that day regardless of price but the salesman continued to hand me every rifle that wasn't wasn'tthe caliberI asked for. When I asked if he could locate rifles of that caliber he said well I would have to read every tag, but he thought they really didn'thave any. Then he continued to interrupt me by speaking on his earpiece and then abruptly left. While he was gone I looked at their inventory online and found they have several in stock. When he returned I asked for some i saw online thinking I would be helping him....he replied with our online inventory is never right! 45min later of frustration i happened to ask if they had a certain brand i saw online and then like magic there it was. If that wasn't enough he also had an extreme lack of knowledge and proved that with blank stairs and no response. This guy knew nothing about firearms and even less about customer service and salesmanship!! I was totally willing to buy the first gun I liked no matter the cost!! After dealing with that employee I was too frustrated to buy anything nor will I because of the...