Cabela’s Closes Moncton Shop
MONCTON – Cabela’s, a fishing, hunting and outdoor gear chain, has closed its Moncton shop after just three years in business, a company official confirmed Thursday.
Cabela’s communication specialist Nathan Borowski said in an email to Huddle that the closure was effective immediately.
“We will continue to operate the Bass Pro Shops at 1 Promenade Bass Pro Drive in Dieppe, New Brunswick, located ten minutes away at the Champlain Place shopping centre. Bass Pro Shops will continue to honor Cabela’s gift cards, returns, warranties and other promotions,” he said.
The shop’s windows were covered with brown paper and a notice saying customers having questions about gift cards or returns could call a 1-800 number.
Security guards with Admiral Investigations Atlantic were turning people away from store premises.
The security company was called Thursday morning for the job. The store was closed at around nine in the morning, and while some employees in the store have left, many were still inside in the afternoon.
The company’s Moncton website has also been taken down. “WE’RE SORRY. The resource you were looking for could not be found or is not available,” the message read.
It’s unclear how many employees are affected in total. But when the company announced the plan to open a Moncton store in 2013, it expected to hire 140 people. Some will be given other opportunities.
“We feel we can better serve our customers in the region with the existing Bass Pro Shops location and the opening of a new store in Halifax scheduled for this spring. Most of the 25 full-time employees are receiving opportunities to transfer to these locations. We have no plans to close any other Canadian locations for the foreseeable future,” Borowski said.
Bass Pro Shops, another American hunting, fishing and outdoor gear chain with a store in Dieppe, completed a $5-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Cabela’s in September last year.
Since the merger, customers can exchange Cabela’s gift cards to a Bass Pro Shops gift card and vice versa. Purchases made at Cabela’s can also be returned to Bass Pro Shops and vice versa.
Cabela’s 50,000-square-foot store is located near the intersection of Mapleton Road and the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Moncton store was the U.S. chain’s first location in Atlantic Canada. It has 10 other stores in Canada.
Shortly after opening the Moncton store in 2015, Cabela’s announced a plan to open a 50,000-square-foot store in Dartmouth, N.S. The company expects to hire 150 people when it opens this year.