Bass Pro Shops

Description
Bass Pro Shops, Inc. is a multifaceted sporting equipment retailer, with a special emphasis on fishing, hunting, and camping. Operating out of Springfield, Missouri, the company is best known for its Outdoor World stores, massive facilities that combine a large selection of goods with amusement features, such as target ranges, fish tanks, restaurants, and video arcades. The original Outdoor World is located in Springfield and has become the single most popular tourist destination in the state of Missouri, attracting approximately four million visitors each year. Nearby Branson, Missouri, a mini-Nashville with two dozen country music theaters, draws more tourists overall, many of whom make the pilgrimage to Springfield to visit what has become the Mecca of fishing and hunting. Bass Pro Shops also runs a major mail-order business, which originally provided the platform for the company's entry into megastores. Its private label sporting goods are also distributed to other sporting goods stores through its American Rod & Gun wholesale operation. In addition, Bass Pro Shops owns Tracker Marine, one of the largest U.S. boat manufacturers. In recent years Tracker has extended its brand to a line of recreational land vehicles to serve the fishing and hunting market. Moreover, the company runs an upscale, 850-acre resort, Big Cedar Lodge, in Missouri's Ozark Mountains. Bass Pro Shops has 54 stores with at least two more stores opening in 2009.