Bass Pro Shops: "the world's greatest sporting goods store."

Shooting Industry, Dec, 1989 by Tony Bridges

Bass Pro Shops

Any time that a sportsman finds himself driving through the "Show Me" state he should consider a visit to the sprawling Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World national headquarters showroom, even though his travel isn't necessarily taking him any where near Springfield, Missouri. In fact, many vacationers from all 50 states are now beginning to plan their annual family outing around a visit to this `super outdoor sports' complex, with nearly 3 million visitors going through the Outdoor World showroom doors in 1988 alone. Followers of the seasonal Bass Pro Shops sale catalogs surely noticed the company's growing move into hunting related goods during the early 1980s, especially in the fall and spring issues. But, it was just four or five years ago that Bass Pro Shops made its big surge into the hunting field. The Outdoor World showroom was just beginning to build a reputation for being the "Sportsman's Disneyland," where the outdoorsman could find anything and everything for his favorite outdoor sports, whether he fished, camped, boated, hunted, or enjoyed one form or another of recreational shooting. However, with a name like "Bass Pro Shops," the company realized there would very likely be an identity problem and immediately began looking at ways to establish a reputation for being a whole lot more than fishing tackle.

In late winter of 1987, Bass Pro Shops' marketing masterminds went to work, and came up with an in-store show promotion the likes of which the shooting and hunting industry had never seen before. The seed for Bass Pro Shops first "Fall Hunting Classic" had been planted.

The goal was to stage an event that was something of a "mini" SHOT Show especially for Bass Pro Shops customers. The huge boat showroom inside the amazing 150,000 square foot showroom was cleared of Bass Tracker fishing boats and Sun Tracker pontoon boats and a floor plan was devised that allowed room for approximately 100 of Bass Pro Shops' hunting related vendors to display their wares, especially those products offered through the company's mail-order catalogs and showroom.

The purchasing and promotions department at Bass Pro Shops then went to work to bring in a great lineup of hunting and shooting experts to present a practically non-stop schedule of seminars. Names like Grits Gresham, Noel Feather, Tink Nathan, and Ben Rogers Lee were on hand for presentations on everything from rattling and calling whitetails, to the complete turkey hunter. Hunters filled the big 250 seat Outdoor World auditorium for practically every seminar.

Of course, the idea behind the Fall Hunting Classic was to move merchandise. And, move merchandise it did! For four full days, more than 60,000 hunters and shooters converged on Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World showroom for the Fall Hunting Clasic. Bass Pro Shops had purchased huge quantities of "special purchase" items just for this show. These special buys were housed inside two spacious circus type tents that filled a portion of the parking lot, along with greatly reduced closeouts. The "sale" aspect of the show appealed to visitors and they literally drove away from the Fall Hunting Classic with pickup loads of decoys, ammo, clothing, calls, guns and all the other gear they would need for the upcoming seasons. It was this great combination of a money saving sales event and information filled show which made Bass Pro Shops' first Fall Hunting Classic a success, andhelped to establish the fact that the Bass Pro Shops was the "hunter's pro shop" as well.

Last year, the show was moved from the original dates of early October to late September in an attempt to capture more archery/bowhunting sales. The size of the 1988 Fall Hunting Classic was also increased to make room for nearly 140 vendors. The Outdoor World showroom is big, but it's not big enough to house this number of exhibitors and still leave room for the natural setting displays (which include a four-story waterfall and a trout stream that flows right through the center of the hunting department) and the thousands of visiting hunters and shooters expected to attend. To give vendors and customers alike more breathing room, Bass Pro Shops erected two big tent type temporary structures with sturdy aluminum truss-type frames directly in front of the showroom entrance, along with a huge seminar tent, a value packed "bargain" tent, and an exit tent to house more than adozen cash registers for quick and easy check out.

Each of the temporary structures provided room for nearly 50 vendors, while the Outdoor World boat showroom provided space for nearly another 50 exhibitors. The inside exhibits included displays by such organizations as the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Buckmasters, the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association and the National Rifle Association. World renowned whitetail expert Dick Idol was on hand with his impressive display of record class whitetail mounts, including the No. 2 World Record non-typical buck, the famous "Hole-In-The-Horn" buck. The Missouri Department of Conservation also displayed their World Record non-typical, giving visitors an opportunity to compare these two magnificent whitetails.