Bass Pro / Cabelas deal not good

[Brian Jones]

15 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

The St. Charles store is lame in it's selection on most cutting edge products......TW gets my cash 

Ditto Tackle warehouse.  Free shipping on orders over $50.00 and 2 day shipping for $5.00 more.  I can't drive from Bonne Terre to St. Chuck for $5.00.  As for hunting stuff, Rogers Sporting Goods in the KC area is a fine store with really good service.

[Seth]

48 minutes ago, Brian Jones said:

Ditto Tackle warehouse.  Free shipping on orders over $50.00 and 2 day shipping for $5.00 more.  I can't drive from Bonne Terre to St. Chuck for $5.00.  As for hunting stuff, Rogers Sporting Goods in the KC area is a fine store with really good service.

I don't know why you buy anything fishing related. You're too busy to fish these days and now you got foozball added to your plate. 

[Al Agnew]

Bass Pro is like the Walmart of sporting goods stores (as is Cabelas--maybe they are the Kmart), a place where you can walk in and buy the usual brands of whatever you need, but you won't find the little known specialty stuff there.  That worked for many years in their mail order business and still works for people walking into the stores.  Plus, the stores have so much stuff of the usual brands, and the better ones enough attractions for the casual visitor, that they became destinations in themselves.

But it seems to me that BPS is going to have to step up their game considerably in these times, because I suspect that they ARE losing mail order business to the online stores like Tackle Warehouse.  BPS is still a good place to shop as a department store with everything from barbeque grills to women's clothing, but there are a lot of anglers and hunters like most of us who are not looking for the department store stuff at regular price, and are finding the specialty items and better prices elsewhere.

Seems to me that the Cabelas deal, no matter what finally happens with it, isn't going to change all this.  I'm sure, though, that there are smart people at BPS who are planning ways to dominate the online mail order business the same way Walmart is aiming to beat out Amazon.

[dave potts]

Another store that is going to hurt them is Academy Sports.  I was in the new one in Columbia on Monday and have been in the one in Rogers,Ar where my son lives several times.  These are big stores that sell just about everything sports related.  Not much in flyfishing however.

As Al points out though, the online sites are putting a real hurt on all the brick and mortar stores which not only hurts the stores but is destroying jobs for tons of people who do not have the skills or education for higher paying jobs.  Those lack of jobs is the biggest problem this country has and it's going to keep getting worse. 

[Flysmallie]

4 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

But it seems to me that BPS is going to have to step up their game considerably in these times, because I suspect that they ARE losing mail order business to the online stores like Tackle Warehouse.  BPS is still a good place to shop as a department store with everything from barbeque grills to women's clothing, but there are a lot of anglers and hunters like most of us who are not looking for the department store stuff at regular price, and are finding the specialty items and better prices elsewhere.

That's assuming they still want to be a true tackle distributor. In the Springfield store you will find more shoppers in shoes than you do in the tackle isles. But they don't appear to be hurting for money. 

[Chief Grey Bear]

6 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

That's assuming they still want to be a true tackle distributor. In the Springfield store you will find more shoppers in shoes than you do in the tackle isles. But they don't appear to be hurting for money. 

See it for what it is. Springfields top tourist attraction. 

KC has WoF.

STL has Six Flags. 

Branson has Lilly's Landing.

Its a destination.

[Quillback]

The "Wonders of Wildlife" exhibit in Springfield is set to open this September, which will add to the destination value of the Springfield BPS.  Memphis Pyramid also has the tourist destination draw going for it.  I don't know how JM can afford all of that stuff, but he must be making a pile of dough off his operations.

[Seth]

38 minutes ago, Quillback said:

The "Wonders of Wildlife" exhibit in Springfield is set to open this September, which will add to the destination value of the Springfield BPS.  Memphis Pyramid also has the tourist destination draw going for it.  I don't know how JM can afford all of that stuff, but he must be making a pile of dough off his operations.

You can do a lot of things when you're worth 4.1 bi-bi-bi-billion!

[JestersHK]

New Academy walls are almost all up.  Drive by there everyday on my commute.  Never been to one of the stores, but have heard good things about them...

[dnj21]

1 hour ago, JestersHK said:

New Academy walls are almost all up.  Drive by there everyday on my commute.  Never been to one of the stores, but have heard good things about them...

Just left the Columbia store for the first time ($50 poorer).  It was a quick lunch time trip for some swim jig trailers, so I didn't hit much other than fishing lures, rods/reels and pistol counter.  I think you will like it, good seleciton and avg prices.  Found a few interesting clearence items (frogs, spinnerbaits).  I will be back to look at the rest of the store........