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Beyond the hoopla was the naked quest for sales. And it turns out the bassfest was good business all around. Genmar, Jacobs' boatbuilding company, moved more boats; Ranger continues to gain share in a flat market. Wal-Mart, meanwhile, got a boost because fishing made its stores more attractive to men, who have a tendency to shop well beyond Department 9--sporting goods--and visit other parts of the store...
...legend, Johnny Morris, had established a mail-order company called Bass Pro to sell lures. Then, in 1978, Morris started a company called Tracker Marine that sold fully rigged bass boats (boat, motor, range finder, trolling motor, trailer, etc.) on a one-stop basis. Morris had opened a retail store on the site principally to give fishermen something to do when they came to Springfield to pick up their boats. In 1981, Morris changed outdoor retailing by establishing a combination sporting-goods store, museum and boat dealership that became the biggest tourist attraction in the state...
Bass Pro is enjoying a growth spurt that has in some ways taken its own managers by surprise. The company operates 27 stores, on the way to 50. It also owns a catalog and a website. The entire company will probably generate more than $1 billion in sales next year. The expansion is being funded largely by communities desperate to use Bass Pro as an instrument of economic development. "We used to do a new store every now and again," says president Jim Hagale. "Then a handful. Next year maybe we can do two handfuls." The city of Buffalo...
...when Jackson, Miss., offers $8 million, Garland, Texas, ups it to $23.7 million. Council Bluffs, Iowa, is in for $20 million. Bass Pro is a destination store, one that attracts enough traffic to benefit other stores--and restaurants and hotels--in any city or mall, where it is the anchor tenant. After all, notes Hagale, there are just too many cookie-cutter mall stores. "We don't build gray boxes," he says. He's not bragging. The 130,000-sq.-ft. Bass Pro Outdoor World in Hanover, Md., has a massive fish tank, offers how-to lessons in fishing...
Along with the gear, Bass Pro also tries to keep local knowledge in stock, which allows it to compete with hometown shops. It hires local guides and gear experts to staff the stores. "See that guy over there? He's the best gunsmith in the area," says employee Dan Kardash, pointing to a man hunched over a firearm. Kardash himself is a fishing guide who runs the store's fishing department...