I was among the initial employees hired on Bass Pro Shop's "Sportsman's Warehouse" located in Duluth, GA (original location, located between Pleasant Hill and Steve Reynolds). In fact, I was hired before the store actually opened. Despite working there, on and off during high school and college, I remain a loyal Cabela's fan. Cabela's has always had a better selection of duck hunting equipment and I think that Cabela's "brand" clothing is better quality. Even though BPS is less than a mile from my house, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have graced their doors over the last year.
For years, BPS locations were located east of the Mississippi and Cabela's on the west. Not sure if it is true, but while I was an employee at BPS, I was told that there was a gentleman's agreement between John L. Morris (BPS founder) and Dick Cabela to keep such retail locations in those geographic locations. Obviously, that is not true today because Cabela's now has locations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maine, and Pennsylvania. To this day, there is only one Cabela's retail outlet in the "true" Southeast, located in Gonzales, LA. Bass Pro has the SE region locked up, having locations in Atlanta, GA, Birmingham and Mobile, AL, Jackson, MS, and multiple locations in Florida and Tennessee.
Maybe down the road, we'll have Cabela's near us in Georgia, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Re,
~WC~