I went to the Reno Cabela’s last week, and I have to say I was completely under-whelmed. I’m not sure why it surprised me, but I was appalled by how low the general quality of the merchandise was. Made in China seemed to be the rule, and I realized just how spot on my earlier quip about Cabela’s being Wal-Mart for rednecks really was.
The fish in the aquarium had absolutely terrible color…nothing at all like wild fish, or even hatchery fish for that matter. Perhaps there is a reason trout are not favorite aquarium fare…
I’m a rather particular fan of high quality knives…another disappointment. If there was even a knife counter in the store I didn’t find it. Instead I found several isles of blister-packed, mass produced, made in China crap.
But what really turned me cold, and very possibly blinded me to any redeeming aspect of the place, was the super abundance of dead animals…dead exotic animals…that they not only had on display, but had the gall to solicit donations towards. Now I’m not anti-hunting by any means. In fact, on ethical grounds I refuse to eat any meat or poultry I didn’t kill myself. But I’ve never agreed with trophy hunting, and the killing of animals which will most likely be extinct in my lifetime makes my stomach churn. To do so only that they can be stuffed and put on display in order to stimulate the sale of mass produced garbage makes my stomach absolutely ache.
Almost twenty years ago Kenya incinerated its considerable ivory reserve…an act that had a tremendous impact on their national wealth. They did so to illustrate that there is no such thing as “clean” ivory, and that they would rather be a poorer country with a healthy elephant population than a rich country devoid of pacaderms. The people of Kenya destroyed millions of dollars worth of legally collected ivory because they determined (quite correctly) that it is impossible to have both an ivory trade and elephants. So it was with particular disgust that I found not only a stuffed elephant and a stuffed rhino, but a set of trophy elephant tusks ornamenting the gun room. I’d have been a hell of a lot more impressed by a bunch of big screen TV’s showing footage of live animals.
I guess at the end of the day I found Cabela’s to be a lot like a Vegas casino…impressive in how extravagant, garish and over done it is, but completely void of taste, class, or lasting substance. That they are appealing so successfully to a population of people (outdoorsmen) who traditionally have sought a more meaningful connection with the world is nothing short of depressing.
If this is the future of our country I fear we are doomed. I can only hope that we will retain as much of our historic sense of quality and tradition as Mexico has
