Bass Pro Shops

About Bass Pro Shops

Bass Pro Shops (Outdoor World) is a privately held sports equipment and outdoor recreation goods store headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. The original Outdoor World store, referred to as the "Grand Daddy" is located at the corner of Sunshine and Campbell in Springfield. Bass Pro Shops rings up an estimated $1.9 billion in sales in about fifty large retail stores in the United States and one in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It also owns and operates subsidiaries such as Tracker Boats, Big Cedar Lodge, RedHead, XPS, American Rod and Gun, White River Fly Shop and restaurants Islamorada Fish Company, Hemingway's Blue Water Cafe and Riverside Inn. Bass Pro Shops is known for a large selection of hunting, fishing, and other outdoor gear. Its major competitors in the U.S. include many other sporting goods retailers such as Dicks Sporting Goods and Academy Sports. While Bass Pro operates some stores with "Sportsman's Warehouse" as part of the name, it should be noted that the company is not affiliated with the retailer simply known as Sportsman's Warehouse.

The owner, John L. Morris, began his career in sporting goods with a fishing section in the back of a Brown Derby liquor store owned by his dad, located in Springfield on the road to Table Rock Lake and Branson, Missouri. That small fishing department sold homemade bait and worms, proving popular enough that Bass Pro Shops incorporated in 1972. These homemade baits were so popular that many people wanted the opportunity to buy these when they had returned home. Thus began the Bass Pro Shops catalog first mailed in 1974. Soon, it became the world's largest mail order sporting goods store. In 1975, to meet the burgeoning demand for Bass Pro Shops exclusive products, American Rod and Gun was established. Acting as a separate wholesaling entity ARG serves more than 7000 independently owned retail stores world wide. In 1977, Bass Pro Shops introduced the first fish-ready complete boat motor and trailer package with the Bass Tracker. In 1984, construction began on the Outdoor World Catalog Showroom in Springfield, Missouri. Big Cedar Lodge opened in 1988 on Table Rock Lake. In 1995 Bass Pro Shops Sportsman's Warehouse opened in Atlanta, GA, this is the first store outside the state of Missouri. In November 2001, the State of Missouri made use of Outdoor World's popularity as a tourist destination, and opened the Wonders of Wildlife museum next door to the store in Springfield.

A Bass Pro Shops store ranges from 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) all the way down to 42,000 square feet (3,900 m2), many of them have two levels and are around 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2). Around the stores, you will see taxidermy mounts native to the area. All of the stores have an indoor water feature that showcase fish species that are indigenous to the area with the larger stores having more than one water feature. In some of these aquariums professional anglers and store pro-staff hold demonstrations showing the use of an artificial bait. Bass Pro Shops is also known for its Outdoor Skills Workshops. These classes are free and open to the public on a first come first served basis. They teach skills as varied as fly-casting, Dutch oven cooking, archery hunting, and GPS navigation. Bass Pro has published one-page ads in outdoor magazines that their stores are “so damn big, you have to hire a guide." What makes the stores really unique is the detail taken when designing the interior and exterior of the store. Bass Pro has a fabrication shop in Nixa, Missouri, that builds the pine and cedar log structures, as well as 55 artisans that are coppersmiths, blacksmiths, carvers, painters and fabricators. They hand make the chandeliers, lights, lanterns, wood carvings and iron work that is displayed throughout the store. They also have artists that paint huge murals on the walls and ceilings that incorporate mounted animals for a 3-D effect. Disney is the only other retailer with a comparable fabrication facility. Bass Pro's fab shop also designs and creates all the shooting arcades in the store.