Cabela's Inc. thrives in Prairie du Chien

La Crosse Tribune, Apr 21, 1997

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- Though no one is quite sure what "normal" will be like, life with Cabela's Inc. in Prairie du Chien might be approaching that standard.

"It was a madhouse for a while," said Duane (Dewey) Christoph, an employment specialist with the Wisconsin Job Service-Crawford County. "Now it's down to a dull roar."

Christoph is talking about how his office was affected by the announcement late last June that Cabela's, the Nebraska-based mail-order outdoors outfitter, had selected Prairie du Chien as the location of its soon-to-be-built 300,000-square-foot distribution center.

"We received in excess of 5,000 applications," he said. "We averaged about 25 to 50 a day." The application pace has slowed to the current 5 to 10 per day, Christoph said, a fact he attributes to the center's opening in recent months.

Ground was broken in early October, and the building went up "real quick, in something like 90 days," chamber of commerce director Scott Sklenar said.

Construction began earlier this month on another building -- a second distribution center roughly the same size -- with an eye toward a July 1 completion date, Sklenar said.

An initial group of 37 employees attended training sessions at the company's corporate headquarters in Sidney, Neb., at the end of November. said Heidi Hoffland, Cabela's human resources manager.

As of mid-April, Cabela's has hired more than 100 employees, most residing within a 45-mile radius of Prairie du Chien, Hoffland said.

The vast majority of applications came "from people in a driveable distance -- from Platteville to La Crosse, from Decorah (Iowa) to Soldiers Grove," Christoph said "People heard about the job openings from relatives in the area, or they used to live in the area themselves."

Mary Sippola fits the latter category. A Muscoda, Wis., native who moved here from Madison, hers is the first voice one hears when calling the company, and she's the first person a visitor encounters at the reception area of building No. 1.

Sippola said she enjoys the smaller town atmosphere and "the 20-minute commute" from her home in nearby Bloomington, Wis.

Hoffland, 32, is a graduate of Prairie du Chien High School who worked in the human resources department of another local company for 10 years before leaving town for work elsewhere 3 1/2 years ago.

She chose to return because, she said, she's a small-town girl.

"Its exciting having Cabela's here," she said.

The distribution operation at Cabela's encompasses five areas: receiving, stocking, filling, packing and shipping. The center receives merchandise that employees stock on the tall, metal shelves located throughout the building and from which a customer's order is pulled.

A conveyor belt snakes through the complex, carrying boxes of varying sizes to be packed and sent on their way. It's always busy, Hoffland said, but things kick in higher gear during the pre-holiday rush from October to December.

Mickey Mezera of Prairie du Chien has been on the job as an order filler for two months.

It feels good to be working full time," she said.

Mezera, 54, previously combined two part-time jobs -- as a dispatcher and a receptionist -- into full-time work.

Additional incentives for changing jobs, she said, included a more regular work schedule, being compensated for overtime work and benefits.

"I've got (health) insurance for the first time in 10 years," she said.

Mike Rice is new to the area. The 22-year-old from Silver Lake, in far southeastern Wisconsin, works in management information systems or, as he simply puts it, computers. He said he relocated here recently from Cabela's temporary location at Wilmot, Wis., in Kenosha County.

Wilmot was a distribution location of Gander Mountain, another outdoor equipment and sporting goods retailer, which had its catalog division -- including inventory -- purchased by Cabela's last year.

Hoffland cautiously predicted that with the second building going up more employees might be hired. A retail outlet eventually might be built on the property.

"It's in the works," she said.

Hoffland said the company made a good choice when it chose Prairie du Chien.

"People here are down-to-earth and friendly," she said. "People here take pride in what they do."