Cabela’s coming to south metro area

Cabela’s today announced it will build a 110,000-square-foot store at Interstate 25 and RidgeGate Parkway in Lone Tree.

The retailer of outdoors equipment also plans a Thornton store 34 miles north at I-25 and 144^th Avenue, a decision Cabela’s Chief Executive Officer Tommy Millner called “double-barreled good news” for its Denver-area fans.

Construction on both is expected to begin this fall, with both sites opening in 2013.

The Lone Tree store will be on the southwest corner of I-25 and RidgeGate, east of the Montecito housing development currently under construction, and south of Sky Ridge Medical Center. 

Lone Tree offered Cabela’s incentives to locate in Lone Tree, assistant city manager Seth Hoffman said, but he did not provide details.

“We think it was a fair deal for both sides,” he said. “Cabela’s is definitely an important addition to the retail mix in Lone Tree.”

"The addition of an internationally recognized brand like Cabela's cements Lone Tree's reputation as Colorado's premier retail destination," said Lone Tree Mayor Jim Gunning. "We are excited to have Cabela's as a partner and wish them great success."

Talks between Cabela’s and Lone Tree started late last year, Hoffman said, but the retailer already had a firm grasp of the area’s demographics.

“They really are very aware of who their customers are and where they live,” he said. “We wanted them to land in Lone Tree, but we were not in the middle of their site selection process.”

The Lone Tree Cabela’s fits another puzzle piece into the rapid development of RidgeGate’s east side. The bulk of the six-square-mile RidgeGate property is east of I-25 and south of Lincoln Avenue, where more commercial and residential development in planned over the next 40 years. Plans for RidgeGate’s east side include a city center and light rail stop.

Millner cited the loyalty of its Colorado customers, abundance of outdoor opportunities across the region and Denver's proximity to Cabela's Sidney, Neb. headquarters among the reasons for its decision to open a pair of Front Range stores.

"This is the first time we've simultaneously announced two stores in the same metropolitan area, so that says a lot about how we feel about the Denver area,” he said. “We’ve had our eye on Denver for years. Denver-area shoppers have been very loyal customers of our Sidney store, as well as our website and catalog.”

Hoover’s business research company describes the stores as “a hunter’s and fisherman’s Disneyland.” Both Front Range stores will feature gabled entry façades, fireplaces, gun libraries, fudge shops and mountain replicas featuring mounted North American game animals.

The stores will be Cabela's second and third in Colorado. Its Grand Junction store opened in 2010.

The Sidney, Neb-based Cabela’s operates 36 retail stores across the United States and Canada. Cabela’s mails more than 135 million catalogs each year, sells magazines and merchandise online, and has outdoors programs broadcast on Fox Sports Network and the Outdoor Channel. The company is in a strong growth mode, with plans to open stores in Canada, West Virginia, Arkansas and Washington in 2012, as Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and its two Front Range stores in 2013.