City of Sidney focuses on future as Cabela's buildings head to auction

The former Cabela’s corporate headquarters buildings in Sidney are for sale.

The 457,445 square foot property has been vacant since Bass Pro bought the Sidney-based company in 2017 and moved the headquarters to Missouri, which led to a loss of about 2,000 jobs for the Sidney area. Next week the two office buildings are up for auction.

Sidney community leader and former Cabela’s corporate employee Sarah Sinnett said the auction is good news for an area that’s been working hard to recover from the job loss by growing new businesses.

"I think it's a necessary thing. It's something that we all need," she said. "This was kind of the last thing that had to fall for us to really move on as a community and move past the buyout and really move forward. So I do think it is a very positive thing for the community and hopefully we get a great new business into town that can occupy those buildings.

"I think getting anyone in there would be a great opportunity for the community and surrounding communities."

The online auction of the buildings begins on Sunday and runs through Tuesday.

Learn how entrepreneurship is helping Sidney recover from the loss of the Cabela's headquarters in this new story from Nebraska Public Media's "What If..." series.