Cabela's 2008 Annual Report Download - page 19

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We cannot assure you that our comparable store sales will not continue to decrease. Our comparable store sales
may vary from quarter to quarter, and an unanticipated decline in revenues or comparable store sales may cause the
price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.
If we fail to maintain the strength and value of our brand, our revenue is likely to decline.
Our success depends on the value and strength of the Cabela’s brand. The Cabela’s name is integral to our
business as well as to the implementation of our strategies for expanding our business. Maintaining, promoting,
and positioning our brand will depend largely on the success of our marketing and merchandising efforts and our
ability to provide high quality merchandise and a consistent, high quality customer experience. Our brand could be
adversely affected if we fail to achieve these objectives or if our public image or reputation were to be tarnished by
negative publicity. Any of these events could result in decreases in revenue.
If we cannot successfully implement our retail store expansion strategy, our growth and profitability
would be adversely impacted.
We continue to seek additional locations to open new retail stores. Our ability to open new retail stores in a
timely manner and operate them profitably depends on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control,
including:
• our ability to manage the financial and operational aspects of our retail growth strategy;
• our ability to identify suitable locations, including our ability to gather and assess demographic and
marketing data to determine consumer demand for our products in the locations we select;
• our ability to negotiate and obtain economic development packages with local and state governments where
our new retail stores would be located;
• our ability to negotiate favorable lease agreements;
• our ability to properly assess the implications of economic development packages and customer density to
project the profitability of potential new retail store locations;
• the availability of financing on favorable terms;
• our ability to secure required governmental permits and approvals;
• our ability to hire and train skilled store operating personnel, especially management personnel;
• the availability of construction materials and labor and the absence of significant construction delays or
cost overruns;
• our ability to provide a satisfactory mix of merchandise that is responsive to the needs of our customers
living in the areas where new retail stores are built;
• our ability to supply new retail stores with inventory in a timely manner;
• our ability to properly assess operational and regulatory challenges involved in opening and successfully
operating retail stores in Canada;
• our competitors building or leasing stores near our retail stores or in locations we have identified as targets
for a new retail store; and
• general economic and business conditions affecting consumer confidence and spending and the overall
strength of our business.
We may not be able to sustain the growth in the number of our retail stores, the revenue growth historically
achieved by our retail stores, or to maintain consistent levels of profitability in our Retail business, particularly
as we expand into markets now served by other large-format sporting goods retailers and mass merchandisers. In
particular, new retail stores typically generate lower operating margins because pre-opening costs are fully expensed
in the year of opening and because fixed costs, as a percentage of revenue, are higher. In addition, the substantial
management time and resources which our retail store expansion strategy requires may result in disruption to our
existing business operations which may harm our profitability.