Scheels is top dog in the big box world. I’ll drive an hour to the one closest to me and pass a Cabela’s and 4 Sportsman’s Warehouse stores without batting an eye.
They have great stock and inventory on everything, along with great prices. They’ll price match ANYBODY. Case in point, I wanted to pick up a Tikka CTR last fall. Scheels was the only place I could track one down other than a shop in Idaho Falls. The place in Idaho Falls had the CTR for for $929.99, and scheels had it for about $1200 IIRC. I made the joke to the scheels manager that I wish they would match a store without a website, he asked me the price, I told him, and he changed it and matched it. No arguing, no dickering, no questions asked. Great service.
Their employees are second to none. Most of the ones at the Scheels in Sandy, Utah are former Cabela’s and Sportsmans Warehouse guys who spent a ton of time in the industry, but left those stores when Bass Pro stepped in and John Barker (Sportsman’s CEO) flushed SW down the toilet. Scheels pays a fair wage, hires quality people, and trains them well on the product itself, not just sleezy sales tactics.
If I were you, I’d be excited about one coming to Meridian.