Liberty Lake, Post Falls vie for Cabela’s

Liberty Lake and Spokane County are taking steps to attract high-end businesses like outdoor megastore Cabela’s that might otherwise locate to Post Falls or Coeur d’Alene.

The Liberty Lake City Council this week approved creation of a “tax increment financing” district to make the kind of infrastructure improvements Cabela’s or other businesses would need. Spokane County commissioners will vote on it today.

Businesses like Cabela’s pack potential for hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in sales taxes. Cabela’s Inc. is a top seller of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, boasting more than a dozen stores and about $1.6 billion in annual sales.

Several Liberty Lake and county officials confirmed that Cabela’s may be considering Liberty Lake for a future store. The company is also rumored to be checking out Post Falls.

A spokesman for Cabela’s Inc. said the company has representatives looking at property all over the country.

Company spokesman James Powell said while Cabela’s doesn’t have immediate plans to build a Washington store, it has thousands of loyal Internet and mail order customers in the area and may locate a store here someday.

“It’s a wonderful market for us for catalog and Internet customers,” Powell said, adding, “Yeah, we’d definitely be interested in having a presence there.”

According to the company’s Web page, Cabela’s has 14 stores nationwide, with eight more under construction. The closest to Spokane is Reno, Nev., where Cabela’s hopes to open a 150,000-square-foot “superstore” in late 2006 or early 2007.

Powell said other stores range up to 250,000 square feet and take up to a year to build. By comparison, the Costco store in Spokane Valley is about 140,000 square feet.

Some Cabela’s stores employ as many as 400 people. With 50,000-gallon aquariums, displays that include trophy animals and realistic recreations of natural habitats, the stores are as much a tourist attraction as a retailer.

Michigan officials report that a Cabela’s store is the state’s top tourist draw. Cabela’s stores are the second-most-visited attractions in Nebraska and Minnesota, those states report.