Tag: Cabela’s

George Lang’s Business Ratio: The New Bass Pro in West Chester, Ohio

Over the last several weeks, it has been interesting to hear from so many people upset that I support George Lang, the current State Senator in the 4th District in Ohio, and will continue to do so.  They think he is a RINO and that somehow I can’t tell the difference between a rhino and an elephant.  And the concern continues because I know many politicians, and I like many of them, and I’ve been very open about it.  People new to politics or who don’t have an excellent understanding of what the government is supposed to do for all of us get wrapped up in the horse race criteria that the media creates for them, so supporting candidates for various positions becomes a kind of football game where some people in Ohio support the Cincinnati Bengals because they happen to live south of Columbus while people in the north support the Cleveland Browns.  Those in Columbus fight over which is the better, depending on the record.  But in the end, it’s all rigged, and they are all the same guys and corporate products designed to sell advertising to people.  Politics is much the same kind of thing, and what we usually end up with are people who don’t do a very good job once in office.  They talk the talk but never walk the walk.  And the people I tend to support do so on merit-based standards.  I judge them more on what they actually do than what they say, and when it comes to George Lang, who doesn’t say much about himself too often, he does a lot in the background that is very successful.  And one of these, there was undoubtedly a topic of conversation ahead of the March primary; I had the good fortune to attend the opening of Bass Pro for a unique sneak peek ahead of the crowds with George.  And we geeked out by what we saw.  But as we enjoyed a private tour and I did a scouting report on some of my hard-to-find .500 magnum ammunition and acquire much-needed 209 shotgun primers, I was reminded of why I like George so much.  Not that it’s a struggle, but when I say he’s a great politician and has done all of us such a great job, I look at Bass Pro moving to West Chester as part of the great free enterprise initiatives that George Lang has built over the years, things that operate in the background, and the case for George Lang makes itself quite clear. 

I remember when George and I were friends as he was a trustee in West Chester 15 years ago, and he struggled to fight to keep the trend of the area toward small government and generate much economic wealth, as a township instead of a city.  I have a rule I talk about all the time, which I discuss in great detail in my book, The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business, which people worldwide have been enjoying because the balance of government is the key to a country’s success.  Just as it was set up to do in America, the government needs to be big enough to support the needs of a country or a community but not too big to become authority figures, which is tricky business among anybody in the human race, anywhere in the world.  But few places have done it better than West Chester, Ohio.  I have been a part of it since the beginning, starting when we used to call it Union Township, and it was mostly farmland and open fields.  It was strange to stand in the new Bass Pro parking lot with my wife a few days later during the grand opening when she remembered me racing cars against other rival people in that area.  Things have changed quite a lot.  However, the form of government formed around the growth of West Chester Township is a success story that traces back to George Lang.  To have such a community run by three trustees is unusual in the world, where so much wealth is generated among so many people, and to have such a high standard of living is almost unheard of.  But George established much of that in those early days, and the trustees there now have continued those policies and resisted the temptation to turn West Chester into a city with a mayor and city councils running everything.  The success in West Chester is that George Lang and future trustees have embraced the capitalist concept of free enterprise and kept government as small as possible to allow businesses to grow, and as a result, West Chester has been, and continues to be, one of the best places in the world, not just the country.  I’ve been all over the world several times.  And I’ve been all over the United States and seen a lot of very nice communities.  There are few places as good as West Chester, Ohio.  I would argue that no place is better.  The reasoning is that the government ratio has been figured out and maintained in West Chester mainly because of George Lang’s precedent.

The Bass Pro story is a good one.  We have been fortunate to have a Bass Pro in Forest Park and a Cabela’s in West Chester by Liberty Center.  Since Bass Pro bought Cabela’s over the last decade, I have mixed feelings about them combining resources to make this new Bass Pro in West Chester, which opened on February 21st, 2024.  I liked both previous stores and hated to see them go.  But the property for the new one was established over a decade ago, and once they were planning to move to the new location, Forest Park made them an excellent deal on their lease, so they stuck around while the market settled down and the agreement with Cabela’s matured.  The giant outdoor store market has found its balancing act, as Field and Stream have discovered.  How big can you be and still be small enough to survive?    I tend to judge all Bass Pro stores based on my favorite, the one in Springfield, Missouri, the headquarters of a vast store, as I have discussed before.  As George and I stepped into the new Bass Pro, it was more Cabela’s in its presentation than Bass Pro, but it’s a fantastic size and filled with everything anybody could ever hope to have regarding outdoor life.  My family spends a lot of time exploring and traveling, so a store like this is a wonderful addition to our life.  The new West Chester store is enormous.  It is noticeably different from the one in Forest Park, but it is right-sized to fill the needs of the current outdoor market.  Having the ground on the Streets of West Chester is far better for them than in any of the other two previous locations. 

And that’s the trick: why did Bass Pro select that location in West Chester instead of other regional places?   The Forest Park site was failing because the community failed, as has Fairfield, Springdale, and Sharonville around the area.  All those places have moved in the city direction and have added government in the form of mayors and city councils that slowed down the growth rate because they started looting off their businesses to support the government.  West Chester is very business-friendly, and the tax structure is not penalizing.  If you keep your government small, they don’t have the ability to loot off the community.  And additionally, we have kept the government school of Lakota under check for well over a decade now, so they haven’t been able to suck the life out of West Chester and Liberty Township the way the schools do in other parts of the world.  The result is that investments like those that take a Bass Pro Shop to build and develop can happen, where different communities would choke off the opportunity at the development phase.  Working in the background as one of Ohio’s most powerful senators, George Lang is bringing those same sensibilities to the entire state of Ohio.  And he’s doing a great job.  Whenever I go to Columbus to talk politics, the word about George is that he stays focused on his Business First Caucus and doesn’t get wrapped up in much else.  He is applying the West Chester model, which he helped to build from the start to Ohio in general.  The Ohio Senate listens to him, as does the House, and he has the ear of the governor in a healthy way.  You don’t see George running for every microphone to broadcast everything he does.  When I took a few pictures of him at the opening of the new Bass Pro, he was a little shy about taking credit.  But I know the details behind the scenes, and he deserves much credit.  And that’s also why I’m so supportive of him over these many years and continue to be.  George understands how to support just enough government to make it functional.  And takes away the flash of temptation for it to grow into a monster.  And everywhere George has been, his fight has been to keep government small and manageable.  Bass Pro is just a recent but obvious example.  And it was great to see it happen.

Rich Hoffman

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Why We Love Freedom: It’s the key to economic viability and production in any culture

It’s one of the things I like most this particular time of year, the spring months ahead of summer, when stores like Cabela’s put out their Holiday attire. With Memorial Day and the Fourth of July coming on the horizon, there are a lot of patriotic garments that they offer to satisfy the sentiments of their customer base, which, to say the least, are not Karl Marx fans. It’s always a reminder to me of where people are generally, away from the news and in reality. When I travel around the country, it’s pretty easy to see where people are politically. And Cabela’s understands that, as does Bass Pro. The same company essentially owns them, but they know their customers, and I enjoy going there to see what’s the latest in outdoor trends. These stores, dedicated to adventure and patriotism, are such wonderful assets, and I have never gotten tired of the Cabela’s in my neighborhood of Cabela’s West Chester, Ohio, since it opened. Let’s just say I spend a lot of time there. On this particular visit, I found a really nice Under Armor camouflage shirt that would be perfect for the summer season and all the outdoor activities I have planned. And it had a nice logo on it that said “Freedom.” It was a whole marketing line of t-shirts they have in all kinds of colors and styles, and they were selling like hotcakes at a maple syrup festival. I bought the shirt and other related items and immensely enjoyed the experience. But I had to ask myself as I watched others doing the same thing, what does everyone think that “Freedom” means? Why do we say it? Why was it such a powerful marketing tool? Under Armor is trying to appeal to those sentiments, so why was it such a powerful statement that might provoke someone to buy it, as opposed to a statement that might say, “Compliance?”

What do we mean when we say we want and expect “freedom?” Freedom from what? Freedom from government, Freedom from our parents? Freedom from work? Freedom from corporate influence, hostile governments, greedy financial institutions, politics, taking our kids to soccer practice, public schools that can’t spend our money correctly and waste it trying to indoctrinate our children into a Marxist ideology? We have a lot of hooks in us by the nature of living life. But if we had to put our finger on the specificity of the meaning of Freedom from an American perspective, the way Cabela’s is marketing it is the Freedom to live your own life the way you want to. It’s undoubtedly not Freedom from responsibility. And the more successful you are in life, obviously the pressure of responsibility increases. But what is specific about American Freedom is the notion that the value of a developed individual life is recognized as significant, and the results of that development and uniqueness benefit our national culture. In America, you can be a slug, barely rubbing two pennies together and living out of a van, nearly homeless, or you could work hard and become an executive for a major company. In America, you can literally have access to anybody at any level. A woman can date a multimillionaire if she is attractive and can get their attention, as opposed to a more controlled society that works within a caste system, as it is throughout India, Nepal, and into China. In Iran or Pakistan, a woman might be the most beautiful person in the world, but nobody would know because of their regimented society. And the hope to date or even marry someone outside of that rigid system is an impossible concept. 

In America, we have an expectation of choice. We can choose to be successful or not, to spend time with people of any level of input. Of course, you would have to work hard to move through social circles, but if you choose to work toward those goals, the doors are open to the hard worker, and we have that Freedom of choice. And you see that when you travel and go to summer activities where people have RVs and boats, earned assets that represent their hard work or lack thereof. I am always amazed by the variety when I go to campsites with our RV and my children. Some people have multimillion-dollar rigs decked out with all the luxury one could imagine. Many times, those rigs are more elaborate than their homes. And they might be parked next to some scrappy dude who hasn’t washed in a week living out of a tent in the bed of his truck with an American flag stuck out of the hood with a crude drill hole applied to stand it proudly upright. And they will talk and kid around with each other without any pretense of snobbery. They subconsciously appreciate each other’s choice to live a free life. And the results of those decisions provide different toys in life to enjoy. But they celebrate their ability to make that choice and not have a government or social construct make it for them.

This is why China must steal nearly a trillion dollars a year in intellectual property theft because even with the rigged financial system that has put them on the front burner for corporate communism, their culture is dying regarding creativity. They might have a lot of hard workers and an obedient society ready to do whatever they are told. But they aren’t very creative, which is common in communist cultures. Yet invention comes from Freedom. Good ideas are born when people are free to think outside the box. I have had several occasions in my life where I’ve had to deal with the United States Patent Office, and let me tell you, it’s always very busy. There are a lot of good ideas in America born every day, and those ideas come to those who are free to have ideas and are bold enough to act on them. And boldness comes from Freedom of choice. When people are free to express themselves either boldly or rigidly, there are consequences to that behavior that have predicted results. But when people are not free to think for themselves and act accordingly with some sort of market incentive, a society quickly shows the results in stagnant behavior. So in that regard, which is why Cabela’s markets “Freedom” the way they do, Freedom is an essential ingredient to the potential for a vibrant and inventive society. And that’s what we celebrate in America, the Freedom of choice. And from those choices, we have seen proof that society flourishes without a complicated caste system driven by religion or politics in limiting options for the human experience. And that’s what we celebrate on our patriotic holidays, the ability to have a choice. And perhaps to show off our new boats, campers, fishing poles, guns, the things we could buy because we chose to take a risk and hit it big, or work hard all our lives and treat ourselves to a new toy. Or just to spend time outdoors with family and friends because we have the leisure time to do so. Freedom is important to the American lifestyle, and it’s more than a tagline that refers to the period of the Founding Fathers. It’s an important attribute of our economic viability and our culture’s purpose. And it’s always under threat by oppressive forces that are jealous of it, and it’s something we must defend diligently. 

Rich Hoffman

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The Accuracy of Shooting from the Hip: A Cowboy Fast Draw update

I don’t really feel like writing about another terrorist attack, or the stupidity of Democrats.  In America, especially among the shooting sports, we have a means of dealing with both and that insanity is completely avoidable.  I’m talking about the Cowboy Way which is an evolved philosophy of conduct born from the notion of individual freedom and property rights defense—and its very unique to the world.  By day, I get the opportunity professionally to deal with a variety of international cultures and through my love of mythology I have a means of gaining more understanding than the typical person visiting an airport in Tokyo might experience.  For a good culture to survive or even thrive, you have to know what you are—and in America at the heart of our fundamental philosophy is the Cowboy Way.  To be a part of it, or to understand it in some fundamental way, becoming involved in a shooting sport of some kind will usually evoke the basic elements.  That is why for the last two years I have been learning a new skill—Cowboy Fast Draw.  Well, it has taken a little time and a lot of investment but I’m getting ready to do a little competition shooting so I was taking some video of my form to slow down and analyze, and I thought I’d share that video so that my readers can have an understanding of something I think is important.  I’ve set up a target range for Cowboy Fast Draw in my garage and it’s where I go to dump away stress and to fine tune a mild obsession for me in the realm of speed and accuracy.  How fast can a person really shoot and hit a target in the micro seconds of judgment?  Before I elaborate, here is a bit of my practice session from Friday evening this past week.  I like the results, but in all honesty, I’m pushing to be twice as fast as what is seen in this video.  These shots are in the .450 to .470 range—which is pretty good.  But not where I want to be.  However, what matters most is the experience of developing the Cowboy Way through this art and that is truly something very special.

Working with the western arts for over 25 years as a bull whip artist I often ran into these quick draw guys and I always enjoyed watching them.  But time and the initial investment to get started were certainly barriers of entry.  There are a number of different fast draw organizations out there and most of them were pretty loose and hadn’t really done anything to advance the sport in a way that was respectable.  That is until I learned more specifically about the CFDA, (Cowboy Fast Draw Association).  They had their act together and from what I could tell was doing great things in advancing the concept of the Cowboy Way.

Around this time of getting started in Cowboy Fast Draw I was involved in two international cultures professionally, one in Japan where the samurai is still very important to their business climate.  And the other was in Europe where the virtues of the Crusades and King Author’s adventures as a knight of the Round Table are the soil that all their roots emerge from.  I couldn’t help but think that for America to really mature into its own thing—which is essentially where we are—we needed to embrace our own philosophic—warrior past and roll it into our business culture.  In a tremendous way, Hollywood had already done that and our society flourished enormously during the 1930s to the 1960s when movie and television westerns were most of what Hollywood put out. A lot of the movies made in this period I was surprised to learn were shown on television in Europe and Japan as they were fascinated with the idea of the American cowboy and the values which poured forth from it.  Recently while staying in England for an extended period I counted at least five television channels that were showing American westerns during a Saturday afternoon—and they were old westerns.  Nothing produced within the last five decades.

Additionally I was coming under a lot of criticism for my very reckless ways of doing things—or what appeared to slow minded people as reckless.  I often get accused for “shooting from the hip” as if that were some kind of bad thing by rivals.  This is in reference to my tendency to make decisions on my own—without a lot of group involvement, and to make those decisions quickly.  I don’t sleep on much but instead usually draw and fire at that moment.  To me it doesn’t seem so fast, but that’s because I’m already thinking in a very fast way so what might seem like forever to me is very fast to the people watching from the outside.  So I got involved in Cowboy Fast Draw for other reasons too, and that was to prove that you could draw and fire from the hip quickly and accurately and that it wasn’t so reckless—but rather quite precise.

The safe thing for me would be to not get involved in this type of thing.  After all, I had been one of the best bull whip artists in the world and I had often used my experience with that endeavor to explain many complicated business concepts—such as putting out the flame on a candle with the crack of a whip like I did for the SB5 Bill before Governor Kasich went to the dark side and was still trying to do good work in Ohio, to demonstrate how to cut fat out of the budget with precision.  To hit a specific target with the tip of a bull whip is difficult and not many  people in the world can do it—but I can and I could use that calling card forever and nobody would blame me. Taking up Cowboy Fast Draw and joining a sport that already has so many lightening fast people competing in it doesn’t make much sense to most because it’s harder to be unique in such a field, if that is what you are going for in life.  Yet for me it’s about the things that happen in a fraction of a second that sends my mind ablaze with wonder, and obsession.

I hit a major milestone with some of my professional work a few years back and came into some expendable cash so that’s when I bought my fast draw rig and my new Ruger Vaquero.  The very first thing I did, because I had been thinking of it for over twenty years, was find a fast draw organization that I could join up with and master the art.  That’s when I noticed that the Cowboy Fast Draw Association really had everything figured out—the targeting system you could buy from them and it came all ready to set up and use and the ammunition was easy to get.  The wax bullets I get for a good price from CFDA and the shotgun primers I get at Cabela’s about every few weeks in boxes of 1000. To get good at something like Cowboy Fast Draw you have to practice a lot and to do that you have to get the economics lined up correctly.  The way they have things set up in the Cowboy Fast Draw Association it costs about .06 per shot.  To get to where you see me in the video above I have fired about 10,000 rounds at the target shown which is about $600 of investment in ammunition which might sound like a lot, but for shooting it really isn’t.  It’s almost as cheap as BB gun shooting, but Cowboy Fast Draw is much better.  By the time I get to my next 10,000 shots, I will likely get my times down by .100 of a second.  Perhaps by the next 50,000 shots, I may even do better than that.  If you watch the video in slow motion taken from many angles, the areas for improvement are the time reacting to the light and the time from drawing the gun and actually pulling the trigger. We are all taught that the way to shoot is to aim with the targeting bead carefully so the tendency to get the gun out in front of you is very instinctual.  But to get the fast times you really need to fire right out of the holster.  When I bought that holster I commissioned it from Bob Mernickle who makes holsters specifically to the stringent rules of the Cowboy Fast Draw Association just to be safe, and I have to say that it is my favorite thing in the world.  When I come home from a hard day, nothing feels better than putting on my fast draw rig and practicing a little fast draw.  There really isn’t anything better in the world than the smell of gun smoke, Hoppes gun cleaner, and finely worked leather to the sounds of talk radio giving you the news of the day.  I’ve had a very good life and I have owned many things that made me very happy, but my fast draw rig and the Ruger Vaquero that rest in it is the best thing I’ve ever owned. There is great symbolic meaning which is very important to me patriotically as well as philosophically that come with them.

Until I shot that video the other day I wasn’t sure how I was doing.  I didn’t worry about the form or how it looked; I just practiced with an eye on being able to compete within a few years.  I talked about it here when I started and I have been having fun with it.  I was pretty happy with the video I saw.  Everything happens so fast that it’s difficult to tell what is going on until you slow things down for analysis.  But so far so good, and I share it just in case some of my readers out there want to use it as an entry point into the sport for themselves. It’s an all American past time and just the function of it is important to the philosophic development of the Cowboy Way which is something everyone would do well to learn—especially young people. Other cultures—especially the Japanese, certainly are proud of their artistic warrior arts which put their societies on the map of relevancy.  In America, gunfighting is a martial art of our own invention and I think it’s time we embrace it—formally, not just in old movies.  Cowboy Fast Draw is a great way to do that.  You can practice at your own home relatively cheaply and it really gets you close to the spirit of America.  For me, it’s that quest to show how accurate a person can be shooting from the hip.  As those who have been so critical of my way of thinking about most all things, the proof that it’s possible is obvious.  But I’m not done yet.

Rich Hoffman

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Cabela’s in West Chester: Bigger than all outdoors because of big bank accounts

It has been a week of amazing fun and innovation culminating in the opening of a new Cabela’s in my hometown, on the border of Liberty Township and West Chester Township. I went to the Grand Opening with my son-in-law and took a moment to just soak up the moment. With the Wetherington Country Club on my right and the new Liberty Center development on my left while facing the grand façade of the new outdoor outfitter, I had to consider how wonderful these developments were, and how amazingly creative the minds of ingenuity behind them were that made it all possible. From the smallest fishing lure to the most epic of dining experiences, the spot that I stood upon I once hiked as a kid that at the time was considered remote and way out-of-the-way from anything resembling development. Yet where I stood was ground central to some of the greatest capitalist investment in the United States, and I simply loved it. Country music played to a line of people who had been waiting to get into Cabela’s for days as the sun rose through blotchy clouds above the now familiar building. Outdoor exhibits filled the parking lot giving the feel of a county fair; it was a truly American experience. I couldn’t help but swell with pride that I lived in a country where such things were celebrated with such gusto. Then the doors opened and a rush of people to be the first inside collapsed reason for yearnings specific to the human need for adventure.

Inside was 82,000 SF of greatness, of American pride, guns, camping equipment, outdoor gear, fishing boats and lures—of everything someone who spends time outside could possibly want. Now in this area we are a little spoiled, we have a Bass Pro. We have a Dicks Sporting Goods which I have been spending a lot of time at lately. So we have access to outdoor supplies in quantities that are unique to our regional market. And I still love those stores. In fact, I am excited about the Bass Pro that is about to break ground this fall just a few miles to the south—a 125,000 SF facility that will be quite a bit larger than this Cabela’s. But for me, Cabela’s is a sentimental victory—a regional game changer that I will be intensely loyal to. I have always loved their supplies and have ordered from them through mail order for years. Most of my cloths have come from Cabela’s over a long period of time. And without question, most of my future cloths will come from the very store I was standing in. I had the thought that a younger version of myself was meeting an older version right there in that store—and it was a soul unifying experience.   The lighting was wonderful; it was like walking into the Wizard of Oz film for the first time when movie goers saw color after the first half hour was in black and white. It was more than a store—it was Heaven’s Gate.image

The same kind of goose bumps that I get when I see the Smith & Wesson logo, or that of Ruger was evident upon viewing the entire fabulous inventory Cabel’s had on display in those opening moments. It was a moment that I will never forget and will go down in history as one of my favorite experiences. All was right in the world at that moment, it was Christmas in August—Americana in all its glory was on full display. Paradise was upon us and it was simply glorious.image

I remember when Liberty Township was very rural, cows were on farms with every mile traversed. My roots in Liberty Township go back to before there was ever an American Revolution so there are few living here now who can claim such a history. If anybody should have anxiety over all the development, it should be me—and on some projects I don’t like them. For instance, I was not a fan of the 129 connector. Too many people lost their land to the hands of government, and a scar cut right through my township which likely laid my foundations toward government opinion to this day. It was a bad deal and it has not saved Hamilton from economic destruction, the way that the highway was sold. Route 4 is the artery for development that is every bit as good as 129. Because of the Butler County Regional Highway (129) Liberty Township is changing from a country refuge into a suburban utopia luring the affluent from all around the country to one of the best locations in the country to live. To my eyes there is good and bad with that. I don’t care for the traffic, but I like the innovation that comes with development.image

Many are concerned that the traffic in front of Cabela’s and the new Liberty Way will be ominous. These are major shopping destinations that typically have eight lane roads handling all the activity. But the design is all part of the new design of these retail establishments—where the challenge is to handle all the people while still looking like a small town community. After all, that is the appeal of Liberty Township and West Chester. You get everything you would expect from a big city as far as commercial application of development, without all the noise and headache. The spirit of the land is and will always be country—even with all the affluence. I still see it the way I always did, even as I stood in the Cabela’s parking lot thinking of days where that exact location seemed so far away from civilization with the exception of I-75 nearby.   Back in those days Tylersville Road was like the last outpost of Cincinnati before getting to Dayton, with the only exception of Middletown which was like a small oasis between the two big cities. After Tylersville Road there wasn’t much development, there was actually concern about having enough gas to get to the next supplier.image

Once just north of Franklin I was pulled over by a helicopter cop for doing 111 MPH and I wasn’t really trying very hard. There wasn’t much traffic or buildings around for reference. The cop saw that I had so much legal trouble that they actually cut me a break, because my license was about to point out under suspension from the multitude of speeding tickets I had—which took about three months to process through the system—in pre-Internet days. The helicopter actually landed in the median of I-75 because that was the only vehicle that could catch up to me back then. But the cops in the helicopter were happy to have something daring to do during their shift and I was pretty well known—so they were content to send me off without making things worse for me—which was nice. There was a little bit of Hazzard County politics to the region back then, which I always appreciated, and many old timers are afraid of that going away with all these new developments. But to my eyes, Cabela’s understands the area—which is why they put the store where they did. They appeared to me to want to give the area more of the character it has always had, not to take it away.image

Yet if I had the opportunity as a kid to trade that bit of land for the hiking opportunities it provided, or in having a Cabela’s where I can buy just about anything for the outdoors that I could dream of, and then travel to some really nice outdoor destinations for real adventure—I would pick in less than a second to have the Cabela’s. From Liberty Township, the Great Lakes are not that far away. Cumberland Lake, Lake Nolan and many other southern destinations known for fishing and boating are an equal number of miles to the south. To the east is the great Hocking Hills and between those places and the new Cabela’s are many hundreds of smaller destinations great for outdoorsman. But what’s better is the concentration of wealth in the area that allows Cabela’s to stock unusual items that they might not be able to afford to carry in less affluent areas.image

There have been a lot of complaints that Bass Pro has went downhill over the last couple of years—particularly in the fishing lure selection and price. They really haven’t had a direct competitor and they have been located in a declining area—economically. The Cincinnati Mills location is a dead mall mismanaged by the governments of Forest Park and Fairfield who assumed twenty years ago that they could raise taxes, bring in government housing, and not expect to push away the wealth that made them great areas at one time. Again, when I was a kid I spent a lot of time at Surf Cincinnati, which was located in Forest Park, just down the highway from the current Bass Pro Shop. There are such poor quality people in the region now, that a Surf Cincinnati wouldn’t be possible in that same area now. It’s not race that I’m talking about, it’s those willing to build wealth as opposed to those who just want to leech off it. This has put Bass Pro in a terrible position and it shows in their stock of inventory.

To support them I buy what I can from Bass Pro. As I announced recently, I bought my new .500 Magnum from them even though it probably cost me $150 more to do so, and I bought recently a gun cleaning kit that I could have bought at Dick’s for about $5 less. I bought at Bass Pro because I wanted to support them, and because I wanted to show my grandson the gigantic fish tank and grab something to eat in front of it. They opened Bass Pro hoping to have a major impact on the region, which has been extremely positive. But not enough to offset the bad decisions of local government during the past—so for Bass Pro’s own survival, they need to move to West Chester. The same customers can come as those who went to the Forest Park location, but new people who avoided the Forest Park region will explode their business. That will not only help Bass Pro, but outdoor enthusiasts like me who want to give them money, and encourage them to carry inventory they might not otherwise stock for fear of overloading their shelves—because eventually someone will buy that uniquely colored fishing lure—because they are getting ready to fly to Canada on a pontoon plane to spend a week on one of their many lakes far removed from civilization.

Others are concerned that there won’t be enough economic horse power to sustain Cabela’s, Dicks at Liberty Center, and Bass Pro at Union Center. I know by instinct that there is more than enough. But Cabela’s has run the numbers, they know the demographics of the area they built-in, which is why they are selling boats and pontoons—which is unusual for them. They know the market demographics are there, which was obvious upon putting my eyes on the merchandise when first entering. It’s the little things that confirm it—which is why it was a paradise for me.

I recently had the privilege of visiting the Field & Stream store in Crescent Springs and it was wonderful, but had a bit of the tired look of the Bass Pro in Forest Park. That is because the market demographics can’t support all the cool little nuances that come to affluent areas. It was a nice store, had a good price on ammunition, but looked like they were holding back on their inventory out of concern of not being able to sell it. That was not the case in the Cabela’s at West Chester. It was gloriously stocked and ready to supply a community hungry for what they offered. And for me, lasting just a small time during a mid-morning excursion, all was right in the world. I was at Cabela’s and they spared no expense!

Rich Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Listen to The Blaze Radio Network by CLICKING HERE.

Cabela’s of West Chester: The story of a family enhancing conservation through capitalism

 One of my daughters and my wife had a shopping day recently that carried them into Bass Pro Shops at the Forest Park location. I haven’t been there recently because it is moving to the Streets of West Chester and I have been excited for that switch. The store will be impressive and will be a tremendous asset to the destination experience at Union Center, Ohio. The government of West Chester is running the way things should in every population dense area. George Lang and his crew of trustees are creating incentives for businesses to evolve around and lowering the barriers of entry into emerging markets—which is one of the reasons that Bass Pro is moving from Forest Park to West Chester. There are much more lucrative options at the Streets location than at Forest Park—clearly.

The interchange entering the new Bass Pro will be quite extraordinary. IKEA is already quite a draw and will share the Allen Road activity with Bass Pro which will provide shoppers with a truly epic experience. I’m not much of a shopper, but I do enjoy going to IKEA with my wife and eating the Swedish Meatballs they have there. It’s a cool setup and I like to eat in their cafeteria sitting by the windows watching all the cool new development springing up around the Union Center location. Development when it’s done correctly is like a work of art—and the Streets of West Chester, the area around Allen Road at IKEA, and on up Muhlhauser Road to the Jags restaurant is one of the most exciting areas in Cincinnati and I enjoy immensely watching the creation of all the new cool projects. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the new Bass Pro location.

However my wife and daughter took my grandson to the old one and he had a wonderful time. At two years old he was discovering all the wonderful monstrosities that are featured in that store, the giant fish tank, the shooting range, the climbing wall, the huge selection of boats and pitched tents—for little kids and big kids alike, it is a destination of boundless adventure that is simply just wonderful. When I was a kid I had to get all my outdoor equipment from the Army Store in Fairfield, all my camouflage pants, my rappelling gear, compasses, canteens—all that kind of thing. I still love that store, but Bass Pro has been hard to beat. Their camping equipment is unmatched and whenever I go there I love their roasted almonds. So when my wife returned from Bass Pro she brought home to me a package of those almonds which made for a great snack.

As I was eating those almonds and thinking about the new location I was checking on the new Cabela’s store breaking ground at the Liberty Way location. I had just been looking over the construction at the Liberty Center site—another project I am excited for, and noticed that the new Cabela’s store was moving along in the 4th quarter of 2014 as it was supposed to be. Soon there will be standing an 82,000 sq foot log cabin complete with stone work and all the usual trappings that will give Bass Pro a run for their money just down the road. I am also a fan of Cabela’s and the magnificent store they have in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be quite a treasure to have two of those types of stores in my neighborhood as most communities salivate over having just one. People consider themselves lucky to have a Cabela’s store within a hundred miles of their homes, let alone four or five miles down the road. During the Holiday season if you happen to see George Lang, you should give him a big kiss on the forehead and thank him for keeping West Chester government small enough to stay out of the way of these kinds of developments—allowing them to emerge as profit margins often entice such creativity in business. When it is wondered why this particular point on the map is doing so well, and why there is such a concentrated amount of wealth in one area look at the government—the time it takes to get permits, the rules and regulations of the local bureaucrats and the tax rate–the answer will present itself. Look at areas where fiscal wealth is not present in such abundance and you will find local governments who have mismanaged their resources forcing people to vote with their feet—but pulling out their wealth and leaving.

Many don’t know the Cabela’s story, which is one of the great American success stories. Many don’t know what makes shopping at Cabela’s such a wonderful and fun experience—they just know that it is. So let’s take a moment to get to know the Cabela family—which is featured on many of the videos on this site and are worth watching. Knowing who they are will demonstrate even more articulately why the new West Chester store is such a miracle of capitalism and why I am personally grateful to know of its development.

The company that would become the massive sporting goods reseller and chain was started in 1961. Dick Cabela purchased US$45 worth of fishing flies at a furniture expo in Chicago which were advertised for sale via an advertisement in a local newspaper.[3] When his first effort produced only one response, he placed an ad in a national magazine, Sports Afield, which was more successful. Included with each order was a catalog of other products for sale by Cabela.[3]

As the business grew, Cabela and his wife Mary moved their operation to Sidney, Nebraska in 1963. Dick’s brother Jim also joined the business. From those modest beginnings, the company has since grown to a publicly traded corporation with over US$3 Billion in annual sales.[4]

On February 17, 2014, founder Dick Cabela passed away peacefully at his home in Sidney, Nebraska at the age of 77.

Founders Dick and Mary Cabela and Dick’s brother James Cabela retained 25% ownership of the now public company which trades under the stock symbol CAB.

About half of Cabela’s sales come from hunting-related merchandise with about a third derived from the sale of firearms, ammunition and accessories in 2012. Additionally, in 2012 30% of revenue came from direct sales (through catalog and online orders), and 59% from physical retail stores. The remaining 11% of revenue came from its financial subsidiary and credit card business.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabela%27s

Richard Neil “Dick” Cabela (October 8, 1936 – February 17, 2014) was an American entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of Cabela’s, a leading outfitter of outdoor sporting and recreational goods.[1][2] He stated that his business was inspired by his bout with polio and a deep love of hunting and fishing.[3] He was also described as an “ardent supporter of the National Rifle Association, a vocal supporter of the Second Amendment, a hunter, and a staunch proponent of wildlife conservation.”[4]

The fruits of their many years of labor carried them to a level of success that enabled Dick Cabela and his wife to build a magnificent home in the tradition of their many stores, a real tribute to wildlife and capitalist enterprise. That home can be seen at the following link along with a descriptive article. It is quite something to see.

http://www.ezpics.com/clients/savides1/PDF/Cabelas%20House%20feature.pdf

What started with a few fishing lures in a newspaper ad became a multi billion dollar industry and it was all started by essentially three people in a family—Dick, his wife, and brother—and they started it just because they had a passion for the products they were selling. Dick at the head of Cabela’s has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Second Amendment and the NRA so his footprint into the kind of politics I support cannot be ignored. So it will be a great pleasure to visit the new Cabela’s store in West Chester.

It took a lot of creative power and tenacity to bring Cabela’s to West Chester, it took a government with as much hands off approach that they could—minus the infrastructure improvements that had to be made off I-75 and the county of Butler for all the stuff that had to go under the ground to make the Liberty Way developments possible. For each new store that is built at Liberty Way there is a story similar to Dick Cabela—which I will think about every time I visit. It is people like him that make America great—and exceptional. That is why it’s a real celebration to enjoy roasted almonds from Bass Pro and to relish the aisles of a Cabela’s looking for new shirts, camping equipment, and rappelling gear. People like Dick Cabela and his family are uniquely American in that they help the environment by making people appreciate it in the best way possible—as active participants through capitalist endeavor. The new store at Liberty Way will have a constant customer in me—I can’t wait!

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com