BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com
HAMMOND | Cabela's announcement that it's building a retail store in Hoffman Estates has no effect on the outfitter's plan to locate one of its megastores in Hammond.
"Based on our research, we know where our customers come from," said Cabela's spokesman James Powell. "The two stores would not cannibalize from each other. They should be able to draw from separate customer bases and do well together."
The Nebraska-based outdoor sporting goods store formally announced its plans Friday to go ahead with the Hoffman Estates store in Prairie Stone Business Park at Interstate 90 and Route 59.
Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said he has been aware of Cabela's plan to locate the store in Hoffman Estates.
"They've been very upfront with us," he said. "We knew the announcement was going to be made soon. Cabela's told us they wanted to locate a store there to catch the Chicago-to-Wisconsin traffic, and one south of the city to catch the Chicago-to-Michigan traffic."
The state Board of Finance and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. are the ones who should be concerned about the fate of the proposed location in Hammond, he said.
Hoffman Estates reportedly is giving Cabela's incentives that include rebating all or a portion of the city's 2 percent sales tax generated by the store.
"I hope the IDEC is watching this closely," McDermott said.
"If there's a moral to the story, it's showing the types of incentive packages that are being done in other states. If Indiana closes its mind to it, we'll never be able to compete. Cabela's could choose a location in another city on the south side of Chicago where they can get the sales tax rebate."
The retailer said it is "positive and hopeful" it can make the Hammond deal come together, Cabela's Powell said.
"We believe the metro Chicago area including Hammond could support both stores. This (the Hoffman Estates announcement) is not something that should be of undue concern to the Hammond area. We know we can make the two stores very successful in the metro Chicago area."
It has a real estate team providing all the information it can to the state so it can make a favorable decision, he said.
Cabela's spent $14 million to buy the about 100-acre Woodmar Country Club in October as the site of for a Hammond store and the peripheral development it attracts.
"We bought the property to put a store there, and we intend to do so," Powell said adding that Cabela's does intense research before it chooses a location for its stores and knows where it will be successful.
"We look at our known customer data base," he said.
"We know exactly where customers are, their concentration. This region is one of the richest areas of the country for our customers and for outdoor customers -- hunters, fisherman -- in general. There's plenty of customers for both stores."
Cabela's, which has 14 retail stores plus the catalog sales operation on which it was founded, does "pretty extraordinary" traffic studies, he said.
"Based on the two locations and the major arteries where they're located, these stores will draw from different states," Powell said.