Fort Worth and Cabela's

A few years back a business calling itself the "World's Foremost Outfitter" came calling in Fort Worth. Cabela's wanted to open a store. Like a suitor come a courting, Cabela's made all sorts of promises. And like an Old Maid desperate for company, any company, Fort Worth agreed to all sorts of tax incentives if Cabela's would call Fort Worth home.

That is the Fort Worth Cabela's above.

Fort Worth was told that their Cabela's would be the "#1 Biggest Tourist Attraction in Texas." The local co-hort in this type propaganda, known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, repeated this nonsense ad nauseum, with the number of tourists varying between 5 to a high of 8 million.

At the same time that Cabela's was busy courting, successfully, Fort Worth, it was also courting the town of Buda, down by Austin. Also in Texas. I do not know if Cabela's ran their '"Biggest Tourist Attraction in Texas" scam, down in Austin. Austin may be a bit more sophisticated, overall, than Fort Worth. With, possibly, a more responsible newspaper of record.

I don't know why it was never mentioned in the Star-Telegram, during the courtship, that Cabela's was also building a store down by Austin. You'd think Fort Worth would feel sort of jilted.

Fort Worth ended up giving Cabela's $60 million or so in tax incentives. There were some strings attached in the pre-nup. Cabela's had to meet some performance goals. How hard could that be with those millions of customers turning this store into the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas?

Well, Cabela's did not live up to its performance estimates and is having to give Fort Worth back a lot of money. And Fort Worth has had to come to terms with the fact that it does not have the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas.

Cabela's does not always run their "Biggest Tourist Attraction in the State" scam on every place they want to build a store. Cabela's must do some pre-proposal research to determine the level of rubeness they are dealing with. Cabela's does always try to get tax breaks. Sometimes, like in Idaho, they are told if it doesn't economically make sense for you to open a store here without tax breaks, then don't build a store. In Idaho there are now 2 Cabela's. Neither the Biggest Tourist Attraction in the State.

Cabela's opened in Lacey, in Washington, last year. They got some small tax breaks. Cabela's did not run their "Biggest Attraction in the State" scam. They used a variant, as in Cabela's will be "One of the Biggest Attractions in the State." It's interesting how Cabela's seems to know where not to use their #1 con, knowing if they did it in some places it would make them appear like clueless, foolish snake oil selling con-men. Like when Cabela's came to a Phoenix suburb in the state that has the Grand Canyon, they did not run the same scam that worked so well for them in Old Maid Fort Worth.

That is the Lacey Cabela's, above, with the rain drenched, empty, parking lot. It does not appear near as elaborate as the Fort Worth version. At least on the outside. In Lacey, Cabela's likely had less land to work with, so there is no lake, river or waterfall. Just a wet parking lot.