2/23/2009 Bass Pro Shops curtails costs $3M energy-efficiency upgrades shape up for five-year ROI at headquarters
Official calls layoffs 'normal business practice'
Like other major retailers, Bass Pro Shops started 2009 by reducing its work force.
Late last month, the company laid off roughly 90 employees as part of what spokesman Larry Whiteley described as "normal business practices."
Whiteley used similar terminology a year ago when Bass Pro, which now has about 17,000 employees and 54 stores in the United States and one in Canada, fired 11 employees. At that time, he told Springfield Business Journal that the economic downturn had not influenced the cuts.
But in reading a prepared statement about the latest round of companywide layoffs, Whiteley said Bass Pro couldn't "ignore current economic conditions facing our nation and have made adjustments accordingly." He did, however, note that Bass Pro stores nationwide hired 1,500 associates in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Whiteley said some employees received severance packages, but he said he had "no idea" whether any of the cuts involved management-level employees or those with more than 20 years of service to Bass Pro. Former employees reached by Springfield Business Journal declined to comment.
"We, as a company, are sensitive to each individual affected by these changes," Whiteley read from the statement.
"As difficult as these decisions are, it is important that we keep the company viable and vibrant for our associates and customers as well as for the long-term sustainability of the business."
Retailers feeling the brunt of the recession are cutting more than jobs to save money, and Bass Pro Shops is no exception.
Last year, the Springfield-based outdoor goods chain spent about $2.9 million upgrading the 1960s-era physical plant responsible for heating and cooling its sprawling, 1.7-million-square-foot Sportsman's Park headquarters, 2500 E. Kearney St. Bass Pro officials say the result has been big-time savings on utility costs - $40,000 a month on average. Annualized utility savings are an estimated $350,000 and $400,000, according to P1 Group, the Lenexa, Kan.-based electrical/mechanical contractor that in mid-2008 completed a massive overhaul of Bass Pro's physical plant energy center, which consisted of a steam boiler and absorption chiller powered by natural gas.
A projected four- to five-year return on investment should lead to long-term savings for Bass Pro.
"In its day, both the facility and equipment were efficient and made to last a lifetime," Bass Pro Director of Facilities Dan Hoy said in a news release. "However, it was high time we asked ourselves if we could improve efficiency and reduce expenditures with today's technological gains."
P1 Group installed a hybrid boiler that incorporates standard- and high-efficiency technologies to run on either natural gas or fuel oil, said Rusty Roderick, P1 Group's director of business development. The old chiller was replaced with an electric high-efficiency chiller, he added, and other physical plant equipment was resized.
"We were able to gain a lot of efficiencies just by properly sizing equipment," Roderick said.
Some of the inefficiencies date back to the building's former owner, Zenith, which air-conditioned an astounding 900,000 square feet. Bass Pro only needs to cool about 350,000 square feet, according to Hoy.
The month after the new systems were installed, Bass Pro saved about $60,000 in natural gas costs alone, Roderick said. Such savings also can be attractive for big companies looking to rein in expenditures in a down economy, Roderick said.
"More and more people are interested in looking at these things now," he said. "If I can't increase my revenue because nobody's buying anything, I better find a way to reduce my operating costs. And it's good environmentally, as well."
After P1 finished the job, Bass Pro hosted a lunch for some of City Utilities' largest commercial customers - called the "key accounts" - to share information about the equipment upgrades and energy savings, said Cara Shaefer, director of energy management and conservation at CU.
"It was neat to see that (Bass Pro was) able to do so much with it," Shaefer said. "And they did exactly what we recommend customers do, especially of their size: Have an engineering or energy consulting firm come in and do this analysis."
P1 Group's work for Bass Pro has led to conversations with Drury University and Assemblies of God, said Roderick, whose firm operates offices in four Kansas cities - Lenexa, Wichita, Topeka and Lawrence - and a new office in Las Vegas. The private company's 2008 revenues were about $200 million, Roderick added.
