Cabelas Store Not Coming To Hooksett, Bass Pro Shops Headed to New Hampshire?

By Jim on November 21st, 2008

Well this really isn’t a surprise at all. Cabelas and Hooksett have been dragging this on for far too long.

With the Cabela’s sporting goods store project all but dead, the Hooksett Town Council is considering directing its economic development advisory committee to explore other options for developing Interstate 93’s Exit 11.

Committee Chairman Bill Sirak told the town council this week that a major retailer, which town officials later revealed as Bass Pro Shops, has expressed casual interest in the site. The committee recently met with representatives of the company, but no decisions have been made, he said.

“They came to us and we had a very nice conversation with them,” Sirak said. “We would be very amenable to looking at what they have in mind. I told Bass (Pro Shops) representatives that they could give Hooksett a great Christmas present.”

Earlier this year, Cabela’s backed out of plans to purchase the Exit 11 site owned by Tom Palazzi. Projections estimated the outdoor retailer’s first New Hampshire store would have generated $11 million in revenue for the town over 20 years.

Cabela’s spokesman John Castillo said the company’s decision not to come to Hooksett was purely dictated by the economy.

At this point I’d rather that Bass Pro came in and we actually had a store opened here in New Hampshire. Yeah, I know it would be cooler to have Cabelas instead of Bass Pro but Bass Pro has some good stuff too.

But this ridiculous foot dragging should never have happened in the first place. I’d laugh at Hooksett if Bass Pro blows them off too. Serves them right for taking so long to shit or get off the pot!