If you live in Freeport, Maine, your livelihood probably depends on L.L. Bean. Same goes for Bentonville, Arkansas, and Walmart.
And if you live in the small Western Nebraska city of Sidney, your life was probably thrown into a tizzy when it was announced that your hometown retail giant Cabela’s had been purchased by Bass Pro Shops. In fact, many in this Nebraska community of seven thousand are wondering what the future holds.
Cabela’s began in Nebraska as a small family-run catalog retailer. But the company grew over four decades and now operates megastores throughout the U.S. Now Bass Pro Shops has purchased Cabela’s for $5.5 billion. When news of the sale broke, city leaders convened to figure out a plan.
In an announcement to employees, Cabela’s CEO Thomas Millner said Bass Pro respects the important of the company’s Nebraska roots.