WATCH: The U.S. based outdoor outfitters Cabela’s opened their only store east of Toronto Thursday in Moncton, and it’s what the store means to the city’s economy that is important. Alex Abdelwahab reports.
MONCTON – Cabela’s grand opening Thursday morning had all the fanfare of a rock concert – even VIP passes for the first six people in line.
Michael Smith said he and some friends camped out overnight to get in first.
“It was pretty dull,” he said. “There wasn’t much going on. We just sat around and made some Tim Hortons runs.”
Josiah Rodgerson said he has also been there since 5:30 p.m. Wednesday evening.
“I’m really excited, one of the first people in the store today,” he said.
The first store east of Toronto officially opened at 10 a.m., but the parking lot had already reached capacity about an hour before that.
Those who follow the retail market in Moncton, say Cabela’s opening is good news for the city.
“We looked at it and it looks it’s probably around $100 million economic impact over the span of five years,” Frederic Gionet, the director for investment attraction at 3+ Corporation told Global News.
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“That includes the construction of the building, the salaries of the employees, taxes that are generated and all the spin-off that comes around that.”
While Cabela’s opening will have an impact on smaller stores already in the region, Peter Mackenzie, vice-president retail for the Atlantic Region at CBRE Limited said those stores have already been competing with Cabela’s online.
“You’re competing with the Canadian Tires of the world that are starting to enter that space, as well,” he said. “The fact that they’re here, yes, it’s a significant impact, but the reality is the competition started years ago.”
Mackenzie added the retailers feed off other retails. When a big store comes to town and does well when it opens, and has sustainable sales, other stores take notice. He also said that Moncton is already a big draw in the Atlantic region.
“Moncton draws from about 1.6 million people within three hours,” he said. “Halifax by comparison is a bigger city, it’s about three times the size of Moncton, but it only draws from about 1.2 million people.”
That fact certainly seemed to ring true at Cabela’s opening.
“The MC that announced the opening asked the crowd how many of them came from outside the province and almost half the crowd raised their hands,” Gionet said.
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