Hooksett is watching closely as the first Cabela’s in Maine opened Thursday, May 15, a mirror image of what the same developers hope to build off Exit 11 in Hooksett as early as 2010.

A Hooksett Cabela’s is one step closer to reality now that the developer plans to buy the project’s land. Cabela’s had tentatively agreed to the purchase but then backed out.

“I think all the planets and stars and suns are aligning,” said Gene Beaudoin, a partner with New England Expedition-Hooksett LLC and also the developer for the Scarborough store. Beaudoin said Cabela’s executives plan to revisit the Hooksett store idea at their July meeting. “It’s still up in the air, but lots of pieces of the puzzle are in place,” he said.

In Maine, the 125,000-squarefoot store is located just off Exit 42 on the Maine Turnpike, just a few miles south of Portland and located near the intersection of Route 195. It’s approximately 90 miles from Hooksett.

“When was the last time a retailer opened up with a crowd like this?” asked Cabela’s Vice President Michael Copeland as he looked out over the crowd gathered outside right before the doors opened at 5 p.m. “I’ve opened a lot of stores and this is the first time where people have camped out in the parking lot with cook stoves and coolers.”

The Gateway at Scarborough, anchored by Cabela’s, is a project developed by Beaudoin and his partner Barry Feldman. Phase one is the 40-acre retail development, which includes Cabela’s, Portland Pie Co. (pizza), Kitchen and Cork (kitchen store), The Kennel Shop (a pet superstore), Haven’s (Maine candy), Art Trends, Freaky Bean Coffee Co., plus Italian, Chinese and Japanese restaurants and Famous Dave’s Ribs.

Phase two, on 40 acres across the street, will include 225,000 square feet of office space. And the developer is eyeing a third phase, which would offer more office space.

Art Dillon, vice president of operations for Haven’s, said his company opened a Scarborough location next to Cabela’s because they want to capitalize on the at least 3 million visitors expected to shop at the Cabela’s store each year. The company is the only candy retailer in the development.

“If we could capture 1 percent of the visitors, it would be fantastic,” Dillon said. The company closed its location in Windham due to poor sales and transferred its employees to Scarborough.

In Hooksett, voters last year approved a deal to bring the first Cabela’s to New Hampshire, a move that would boost commercial development at Exit 11 on Route 93 and bring an estimated $11 million in revenue to the town over the next 20 years.

But then the Nebraska sporting goods retailer announced it was scaling back expansion projects until at least 2010. The company backed out of plans for an $18 million bond for the Hooksett project and later decided not to front the money to buy the Palazzi property -- the location of the future Cabela’s.

Beaudoin and Feldman stepped in, agreeing to finance the deal privately and agreeing to buy the Palazzi property through developer Miami & Pierce once the project’s permitting is complete with the town and the state.

Ed Eckman, who evaluates store locations for Cabela’s and has visited Hooksett several times on behalf of the retail giant, said the Hooksett project is still a possibility.

“We’re still interested in New Hampshire, obviously,” Eckman said. “But because of a recent slip in retail everywhere, we as a company have to take consideration and expand carefully.

If it comes to fruition, the Hooksett Cabela’s will be the same size as the Scarborough store, approximately 125,000 square feet.

It will anchor what is expected to become a commercial destination with restaurants and other retailers.

– Jenn McDowell contributed to this story.