Coming from afar for a look at Cabela's
Jane and Peter Schwab left a group of jealous surgeons behind to visit Hoffman Estates for Cabela's grand opening Friday.
The Schwabs, who hail from Galesburg, drove 2½ hours from a surgeons conference at Starved Rock State Park near Ottawa just to attend Friday's opening. Their fellow doctors were envious of the Schwabs' soiree.
Schwab said she and Peter spent "a couple hundred dollars." They've gotten the store catalog for years.
"I'm very impressed," Schwab said.
Village officials are banking on shoppers like the Schwabs to drive the sales tax base that Cabela's is expected to energize.
Cabela's spokesman John Castillo said he's happy with Friday's first day of business in Hoffman Estates. Castillo has crossed the country in the last weeks, as Cabela's opens new branches.
"It's a real good day for a Friday afternoon," Castillo said, surveying the good-sized crowd that wandered the store to the background of continuous country music.
"We'll have more here Saturday," he said confidently.
One indication of opening day success was seeing the store employees in a losing battle to repeatedly restock shelves with the 1,390-page fall catalog.
Friday's opening of Cabela's at the Prairie Stone Business Park was a getting-to-know-you kind of event, as customers became acquainted with the attractions.
Fathers toted their small children in strollers, pointing at the hulking taxidermy and the 16,000-gallon aquarium inside a 26-foot-tall mountain.
Michael Neenan of Barrington brought his 4-year-old grandson, Kyle, who reported he liked the laser shooting range best. Neenan's cart contained a sign for his home bar, Christmas stockings, a surprise Christmas gift for his wife, jam and, of course, fudge.
Neenan wasn't buying hunting gear Friday, but plans to in the future.
"This is more today about showing him around," he said, pointing to Kyle.
Cabela's also plans on opening a store in Hammond, Ind., on Oct. 19. That's not too far from Chicago's South Side where Vernon Brown and his friend Johnny Patterson live. Brown, a former Chicago police officer, was struggling to find an inside-the-pants holster for his .38-caliber Colt Detective special he's had since 1975.
"So far I don't see the one I need for the type of weapon I have," Brown said.
Signs beckoned shoppers to "eat like a hunter" at the second-floor restaurant. It serves regular fare like beef hamburgers and the more exotic bison or venison bratwurst.
Brown and Patterson decided on traditional chili. The two are also avid fishermen, and plan on returning next year to the store for the start of fishing season.
The store cost $32 million to build and Hoffman Estates has given it $18 million in breaks. Village officials estimate the store will generate $2 million in annual sales tax revenue for Hoffman Estates -- 2 percent of its $100 million in yearly revenues.
Frankie Barton of Fox River Grove was mesmerized by the second-floor African diorama. He said he was pleasantly surprised by the store, and that reading the diorama's captions was educational -- they raised his awareness about animal poaching in Africa.
"I had a totally different mindset until I got here," he said.