is a privately held sporting goods and outdoor 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 over 43 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, and American Rod and Gun. Bass Pro Shops is known for a large selection of hunting, fishing, and other outdoor gear. Its major competitors operating in the US, include
Cabela's ,
Camping World ,
Eastern Mountain Sports ,
Gander Mountain ,
L. L. Bean ,
R.E.I. ,
Sierra Trading Post ,
Sport Chalet , and
Sportmans's Warehouse , as well as national sporting goods retailers such as
Sports Authority ,
Big 5 Sporting Goods , and
Dick's Sporting Goods , web retailers such as
Moosejaw.com ,
Altrec.com and
Backcountry.com , and a host of other local independent retailers. 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, MO on the road to 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, MO .
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 of 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 all the way down to 42,000 square feet, many of them have two levels and are around 150,000 square feet. 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. The stores offer people any kind of outdoor equipment they could ever want in one store. Bass Pro has published one-page ads in outdoor magazines that claim their stores are “so big, you might need to hire a guide."
In 1978 Bass Pro Shops introduced the first "fish ready" professionally rigged boat packages and in so doing changed the way the marine industry sold boats. The Bass Tracker came complete with motor, trailer and optional marine gear. The Tracker Marine Group produces more recreational boats then any other company in the world. It's brands include Tracker Boats, Nitro, Sun Tracker, Tahoe, Fisher, Procraft, Kenner, Mako, Myacht and Sea Craft. It sells these boats in showrooms attached to every Bass Pro Shops store, in stand alone Tracker dealerships and to independent marine dealers through out the United States.
- Bakersfield, California (planned, construction pending)
- Manteca, California (planned, construction pending, east of Oakland )
- Rancho Cucamonga, California (opened on July 18, 2007 Victoria Gardens (shopping Center) , east of Los Angeles )
- Sacramento, California (planned, construction pending)
Bass Pro Shops and its owner John L. Morris have had a longtime interest in
NASCAR racing. Bass Pro Shops has sponsored such racers as
Dale Earnhardt ,
Kerry Earnhardt , and
Martin Truex Jr. Truex won the 2004 and 2005
Busch Series championships in the #8 Bass Pro Shops Chevy, and currently drives the #1 Chevy in the
NEXTEL Cup series when the team moved up in 2006. Bass Pro Shop also sponsors the
Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 during the regular NASCAR season.
