Bass Pro to open 280,000 sq. ft. store near Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bass Pro Shops, an outdoor gear, clothing and accessories store chain will open its second-largest store in Clarksville, Ind., across the Ohio River from Louisville, the company said recently.

The 280,000-square-foot store is tentatively scheduled to open during the fall of 2005 and will be the largest Bass Pro store east of the Mississippi River, and second in size only to its Springfield, Mo., headquarters location.

The Bass Pro store will be the anchor for the redeveloped River Falls Mall and the “mega store will serve as a catalyst for a major reinvention of the destination center that draws from three states: Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois,” according to Bass Pro.

The Louisville area location is one of three new stores planned by Bass Pro.

The others are scheduled to be built between Fort Myers and Naples, Fla., and near Baton Rouge, La. The southwest Florida store is scheduled to open during the fall of 2005 and the Baton Rouge area store scheduled to open during the spring of 2005.

Bass Pro also plans to open stores this year near Syracuse, N.Y., Las Vegas and Harrisburg, Pa. Currently, there are 21 Bass Pro stores across North America that attract almost 60 million people annually.

The Bass Pro store chain was founded John L. “Johnny” Morris, the former tournament fisherman who first founded Tracker Marine LLC, builder of the Tracker, Nitro and Tahoe brands of boats.

Entities controlled by Morris now also control Travis Boats & Motors Inc., a boat dealership chain with locations along the Gulf Coast and other Southern states. Bass Pro attempted, several years ago, to retail RVs under a private label program with Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., but that effort was discontinued. — Jeff Kurowski

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