YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
by Karen E. Culp
SBJ Staff
Bass Pro Shops has yet another new store coming, this time to Auburn Hills, Mich., in the Detroit area.
The new store is opening in Great Lakes Crossing, a 1.4-million-square-foot shopping and entertainment center that is now under construction. The shopping center's developer is the Taubman Company.
The new store will be 135,000 square feet, said Bass Pro spokesman Martin Mac Donald. It will be similar in design to the existing Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World stores and will have an Uncle Buck's Lunker Lounge restaurant. The new store will add about 300 jobs to the area economy.
The four stores that are already open are the Springfield store and those in Atlanta, Ga., Chicago, Ill., and Islamorada, Fla. Announcements have been made of stores opening in Nashville, Tenn., Dallas and Houston, Texas, and Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla.
Those announcements have all been made in the past several months, Mac Donald said, because the company is following its natural extension pattern.
"This represents the natural evolution of our company. The shopping centers that we are opening in are a good fit for us, also, and we're a type of business that fits in well with today's retail trend. There is also a significant trend upward in outdoor recreation. That customer base continues to expand," Mac Donald said.
As far as why the company is locating in the regions it is, Mac Donald said Bass Pro is seeking to locate in regions with a heavy population of people interested in outdoor pursuits.
"We're going where we can find the outdoor enthusiasts," Mac Donald said.
The new stores are smaller than the Springfield store, which has just been expanded to 290,000 square feet, Mac Donald said.
Taubman Centers has its headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TCO. It owns 25 shopping centers in 12 states.
The opening date of the new Bass Pro store is scheduled for spring 1999.
INSET CAPTION:
'We're going
where we can find the outdoor enthusiasts.'
Martin Mac Donald
Bass Pro Shops[[In-content Ad]]
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