Cabela's buy out of Reeds in Baxter?

[Fish Guide]

Anyone know anything about this?  I heard that Cabela's bought out the Reeds in Baxter and not even going to build a store there.  Possibly a quick way to reduce local competition?  I haven't been that direction in a while, so haven't actually stopped to look.

[Randy Kaar]

i heard the same thing a few months ago, yep
get rid of the competetion.

randy aka bh

[EagleEyeJack]

It was Gander Mountain that bought out Reed's

[Mayfly]

Here is the e-mail I recieved last summer (July):

To Our Friends and Family of Reeds,
We have just completed a very exciting deal that we wanted you to hear about directly from us . . . Gander Mountain is purchasing the Reeds Baxter Store! We are excited about this unexpected sale because it expands our future opportunities and positions Reeds in coming years to explore additional retail locations and further develop its growing internet and catalog business at ReedsSports.com. Accompanying this letter, you will receive a press release announcing the news to the public. It describes the basics of the transaction, but since Gander Mountain is a publicly-traded company, its notices cannot be very detailed. We are writing this letter to share with you our excitement and additional details.

We were surprised when top Gander Mountain officials made a serious offer to purchase the Reeds Baxter store. It was never the intention of Reeds to build, develop and sell the Baxter Reeds store. Since its opening in 2004, Reeds Baxter store showed continuous sales growth year after year. Reeds Baxter store gained much success with great service and customer care. We are proud of our sales performance and what the Reeds Family of employees established as a strong, loyal following of friends and customers.

We are proud of the support that we provided to countless community organizations, fundraisers, conservation groups and non-profit organizations. Moreover, we believe that it is a landmark accomplishment to create a business from scratch in a new community that in just three years is regarded highly enough by a publicly-traded national competitor that they wanted to purchase it. The sale is also rewarding to us because of the uncertainty and skepticism from those that questioned Reeds initiative to create the Baxter Reeds store, especially in a location where there was just a heavily-forested undeveloped section of Baxter, which now bustles with business, growth and development.

The Brainerd Lakes area and surrounding communities have been very good to Reeds and our Baxter store has been very successful. So, obviously, much soul-searching, prayer, thought and good business sense went into the decision to sell the Baxter business segment of Reeds. The Brainerd Lakes area community is our home and we do not intend on leaving the Brainerd area. We will continue to reside in the Brainerd area, but just work out of the Reeds in Walker until new locations are established in the coming years. Reeds will continue to serve all our friends and customers at our hometown Walker store and through our nation-wide shipping business at www.ReedsSports.com.

From a business perspective, the purchase offers great opportunities and puts the Reeds company in a position where it has additional resources to focus on further growth of its internet business (ReedsSports.com), its catalog sales and more retail stores in coming years as opportunities develop. For example, we now plan to commence with our Walker store expansion and remodeling plans. We have wanted to remodel the Reeds? Walker Store for some time and now we have a great chance to do so. We will begin working on plans for a huge remodeling and expansion project that will be completed in the Spring of 2008 to make the legendary Walker Reeds Store even more of a destination.

Reeds? Baxter Store will continue with its typical merchandising and marketing in place until it closes on Labor Day. We will hold our annual Fall Classic Sale on August 18-26, which will feature factory semi-trailer truckload sales and amazing deals storewide. As a grand finale, Reeds will host what will be billed as the Greatest Customer Appreciation Sale ever over its last three days of operation in Baxter on Labor Day Weekend, August 31-September 2. Reeds Baxter store will close permanently at 5 p.m. on Sunday, September 2, on Labor Day weekend.

We are very grateful for you and all of our customers, staff, friends, business peers, and to the communities in the Brainerd Lakes area. We look forward to continuing to see you and our other friends in our Walker store and on-line at ReedsSports.com. We hope you have time in the coming months to stop in and visit us in the Baxter store before September. Thank you.

Our very best regards,

The Reeds Family

[proangler16]

Correct, Gander Mtn purchased the spot,  That Reeds is now moving to Onamia by the Big Pond (Mille Lacs).  They purchased the land that has that BP gas station and also that Trophy's Bar/Restaurant just accross from Lundeens Bait Shop.  Should be open in 2009 Sometime.

[Roosterslayer]

Well there goes the great prices on firearms. I found that Reeds had the best prices of any of the big name sporting goods stores.

[Fish Guide]

Thanks for the info, Good for Jeff Arnold /reeds etc , make ya wonder what would have happened if he / they said "no
"  he's a wheeler and dealer, so it must have been good.  Whenever somebody asks how anyone can make it in the "fishing biz"  I always laugh and ask how can anybody make it the "real world"  Food for thought, Josh