Bass Pro plans third Canadian store

Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops has signed on as an anchor tenant for a development in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, marking plans for the retailer's third store in Canada.

The 80,000-square-foot Bass Pro Outpost store would be the lead tenant for the 520,000-square-foot shopping center known as The Outlet Collection at Niagara, a development under construction by Ivanhoe Cambridge, according to a news release.

"Securing Bass Pro Shops as an anchor tenant was the ideal fit for Ivanhoe Cambridge's newest development. The store's unique design and unforgettable shopping environment are parallel with the shopping experience we are bringing to Niagara-on-the-Lake," said David Baffa, a senior vice president for Ivanhoe Cambridge, in the release.

Niagara-on-the-Lake sits about 36 miles northwest of Buffalo, N.Y., where Bass Pro had sought some $70 million to $80 million in public incentives to develop a store. A 2010 study by Buffalo, N.Y.-based Public Accountability Initiative, titled Fishing for Taxpayer Cash, criticized Bass Pro for its reliance on taxpayer subsidies, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Bass Pro pulled its Buffalo plans in 2010 after nine years of negotiations failed to receive public subsidies.

Bass Pro operates 58 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and has plans for another 20, according to its website.[[In-content Ad]]