As you may have heard, the new Scheels store in Fargo opened its doors on July 1st. I was down there for a freelance telecast just two days prior to the opening, but didn’t get a chance to get down to the store until last week. It’s quite impressive! Here’s a quick tour:

This store has just about everything…lots of different beverages are on sale right when you walk in, and there’s a little food/drink area in the back of the store on the main level.

There are various displays of different US Presidents all over the store, and you’ll notice the aircraft hanging in the background (minus its engine…that’s fake). There are also numerous benches located around the store, some next to the Presidential displays, where you can have a seat and just have a look around.

Before you can get on the escalators going upstairs, you will pass the ferris wheel in the center of the store. You can have your picture taken on the wheel and put on a t-shirt for a fee.

Upstairs there’s a shooting gallery you can play for fifty cents, and other shooting games etc. near the gun department. I also saw a couple of AR-15 rifles there I’d have loved to bring home, but those may have to wait a while. There were also a ton of LCD flat screens playing DVDs in many departments.

This Scheels is the corporate headquarters now, which explains the size of it. In addition to having more selection than before, they have gone the whole outfitter route like Cabella’s has, in addition to having even a souvenir / home decor section. For things like bikes and that sort of thing, they don’t have a selection that’s any more impressive than any other Scheels store I’ve visited. That’s not to say that they’re lacking, though. And the gun section, to which our crew made a beeline, is pretty large.

Now it’ll be interesting to see what they do with the Bismarck Scheels, once they move into the current Target store location.