It's been some year since I've been to Springfield, Mo. to Bass Pro Shops. We've got Bass Pro around where I live, and they are big stores, but the original has grown to become an attraction as much as a store.

From the website:

Welcome to Springfield and the Grandaddy of all Outdoor Stores. We are the original Bass Pro Shops and are located in the heart of Springfield, Missouri at the intersection of Campbell and Sunshine Street. Our store is almost 500,000 square feet in size making us the largest Bass Pro Shops in existence! Our store is dedicated to the beauty of the outdoors with art from local artists and craftsmen prominently displayed on all the walls and ceilings making the store part shopping experience and part art museum visit.

Here's but one view inside:



The fishing wing is the best equiped fishing department I've seen. Clothes, guns, reloading, all there. Camping, boats, ATVs and a knife store all there.

Best of all is the restaraunt inside the store - Hemingway's Blue Water Cafe. I'm telling you, if this was local to me, I'd make this my watering hole. The decor is very well done, and the salt water aquarium behind the bar is spectacular.









Pictures don't do it justice. If you're ever near there, be it Spingfield or even Branson, it's worth the trip to see it.

Very cool, Jeff. We have nothing like this in Jacksonville although I am told BPS is going to build one here on the north side of town.

The last time I was there it was undergoing a extensive remodel. Did you hit the outlet across the street?

Also, Bass Pro bought the Pyramid in Memphis, TN and has turned it into a Bass Pro, complete with a hotel in it. Might be worth a trip to see. There are some youtube videos of it.

I've been there a few times when I had family living in the area. The last time was about 15 years ago and it was looking a bit run down. Looks as if they've spruced things up a bit since then.

The NRA has a museum within the stores that is killer. Has the 1,000,000 Savage 99, Charleton Heston's "from my cold, dead hands" rifle. Great selection of rifles from all periods. I could have spent an hour easy in there.

I wonder if it is profitable?

Well, its came a long ways since it started in the back of a Brown Derby liquor store when I was a kid. I've been in the Atlanta BPS and it is kinda poorly. There is a small BPS right in Branson on Lake Taneycome. I mean, right on the banks. If that isn't the best setting for one that I've been to, then it's Independence, Missouri which has a small lake right next to it and is very scenic, although it is building up around it and doesn't look as good as it once did.

IMO the original kinda went haywire when they decided to redo it all in deep south swamp decor. That's just not right for the Ozarks. Shreveport already has a BPS and I'm sure New Orleans does. Let them have the swamp stuff.

There are two in Kansas City alone. Another in Tulsa.

It is in the midst of another expansion and it is looking good inside. I'm guessing a good part of the expansion is the wildlife museum.

I'm not so sure that the goal of that Springfield store is to make a profit, but to be a showcase. Owner Johnny Morris has this as his own personal indulgence. You can do those sorts of things when privately owned. Nice not to answer to 150,000 stockholders sometimes.

If we could get some PH's and 24 H safari regulars around that bar, it would beat the Long Bar at the New Stanley in the old days. Imagine that one!

I made the trip from Indianapolis last November and spent a day there, most of the time in the firearms museum. We had supper in the restaurant which is to be highly recommended. This place needs to be on everyone's bucket list of places to visit.

Wouldn't that be something!

After going there once a month (or more like once a week) when I worked 30 miles from there and dated a girl who lived a block to the west, I kind of ran out of things to see and buy there.

Only go about every other month now.....

They should be with the prices they charge for stuff, I have a friend employee at the one near me and can get the employee discount and still don't buy much there.

Nice looking place but how much .22 ammo did they have?

Might be an epic bar fight. Might be a hell of an evening. Hard to say.

I have been to a bunch of the stores but have yet to hit the home store. I need to do that sometime.

I never got the allure of 'stores' for people.

I'm with you!! Stores in general creep me out. And in this case...

Liquor and Guns!! Perfect!

So being that they do sell booze can one carry inside?

Good place for japanese tourists.

My kids love to go there and look at the fish, snakes, ducks and turtles. I love to look at the mounts and the firearms and archery museums.

Actually, the Springfield store is no longer the nation's largest Bass Pro Shops store. Here the biggest one, in Memphis:

That looks pretty nice. I would like to visit the Memphis store.

The one in Garland, TX is on Lake Ray Hubbard, I thought that was marketing genius.

A friend of mine bought a Remington 7400 from Bass Pro on an opening day that I swear to u has some of the most beautiful wood I've ever seen on a factory gun. I almost suspect it to be a custom shop gun that somehow got mixed up. It is a sight to be seen. He even bought a set of synthetic stocks for it for when he actually uses it. HAHA

wow that Memphis store looks to be something!

been to the one in Springfield a few times. pretty impressive, particularly the firearm museum part.

had a cute cousin that worked at Hemingway's for awhile

The Bricktown venue is okay, I guess. The one in Grapevine is almost on the lake. More and more they are going for more "green" settings for their stores. I've been to quite a few. My Dad used to take me out to Ray Hubbard and we'd bank fish. There was nothing out there then. We used to stop at a Mom and Pop grocery store out in the middle of nowhere at Rockwall and get home-made sandwiches and Cheez Whiz and some pop for lunch. Catch Sand Bass off the points. RH is in the city now.

Back in the mid 80's I got into bass fishing in a huge way. Everything revolved around my bass fishing. Living in small town Texas I did my gear "shopping" at the bait shop or from catalogs.

The first time I went through MO. and stopped at the Springfield BPS I thought I had died and gone to heaven. They had lures and reels I had never seen before.

I spent six hours in the place!

My wife and daughter left me there and went and got a motel room. I bought so many lures and rods and reels that I wasn't sure if they'd fit in the car and was wishing I had brought the truck instead.

I almost bought one of those new fangled "fish finders" but controlled myself.

The next morning I surprised my girls by going back to BPS and buying that "fish finder" for my little boat.

Needless to say that my girls were not happy and I was encouraged to take another route when we returned to Texas.

I'd like to think that I have matured a bit since then and don't idolize anything that much anymore, but it was a fun trip.

Another part I don't get is the fact they are essentially a bait and tackle shop that opens at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Our "local" shops open at 4 or 5 a.m. for the guys that actually go fishing and catch stuff.

True. Don't think they'll carry live or dead local bait either.

That said, they're building one now about 10 minutes from here set to open in November. Place looks pretty big.

Live about 45 min from springfeild store , wife used to work there (in office) at that time I got all the range and tunnel time I want ed for free as long as there was not paying folks waiting , which I fully understood. High tourest stop is a double edge sword to me , it makes the store what it is but but if one is in a hurry , the gaking folks sure get in your way.

lot of show and smokin mirrors but still ain't got $hit for reloading very little powder few bullets not much any one uses

They had a buttload of powder and all the bullets you wanted in .223, 6mm, 7mm and .308, as well as 9mm and .45.
Plenty of primers behind the counter, and .22 behind the counter.

Nothing in the less popular calibers such as 6.5mm or 8mm, but they are catering to the local reloader, and in that part of the world it does not include those.

If their reloading impressed you , someone should have taken you yo some local good gn\reloading shops

If you aren't born automatically with all the hunting and fishing gear you need, you gotta get it someplace. These places are where to get that stuff whilst gazing at trophies and such that most of us will never attain. Awesome animal mounts, aquariums, etc. I'm not a fan of Tracker/Nitro boats, but they are fun to look at too. Basically it is the Christmas edition of the Sears catalog for those of us who were born in the sixties. They don't have the best prices, but are usually competitive. I don't spend all my time in stores, but what's not to like if you've gotta buy something someplace?

Cabela's has a great reloading section. Scheel's just went into Kansas City and they have one that may be even better. Both are better than BPS, which isn't bad. When I was growing up in KC, the best place to get sporting goods was probably K Mart. No Walmarts in the whole metro area that I knew of. Now there are two BPS', a Cabela's, Scheels, multiple Dick's (lol), two Academy's, etc. My how the years have flown. Before 2000, it was not far removed from my youth, but now it is overflowing with outdoor goods. Another Cabela's and Gander Mountain in Wichita.

And Rogers Sporting Goods might be my favorite in Kansas City. Kansas City has become such an outdoor store destination.

Anyone here work or have worked for Bass Pro??
Seeing the new one they're building here is so close, I'm wondering if it's worth looking into a part time gig.

If you go, don't forget the Jerky Outlet store across Campbell to the east.

And seriously, if you know what you are wanting to buy from BassPro go to the BP outlet first... they may have what you're wanting marked down.

i've been working at the spanish fort, al location since construction (summer '08). never seen a paycheck thanks to employee discount and pro-forms.

Was in the Springfield BPS this summer. Hit it every time we go see my folks in Branson. Fun place to visit. Usually find a few things I need. Wish the one in Calgary was a "stand alone" store like that, not a mall anchor. Kind of limits potential expansion.

Also stopped at the Cabelas in Sidney NE on the way home. Not even close in "visual" appeal to BPS. I remember in 1990 my buddy and I did an epic drive, or so it seemed, from Manitoba to Sidney to visit Cabelas. This was of course back when there were only two of them. Was a bit of a let down this trip, seemed kind of generic and sterile. My wife looked at and said: "This is it?" Sums it up right there.

She enjoys BPS and doesn't even hunt or fish.