Bass Pro Shops Vs. Walmart

[RMcDuffee726]

So I want to start a discussion, I mean any store can be decided to be compared but I just have noticed some things from my Walmart visit to my Bass Pro Shops visit.  So I went to Bass Pro Shops in (Hooksett, New Hampshire) and I was surprised by the lack of variety that they carried for certain styles of fishing.  I went to pick up a few new jigs, and was very disappointed.  They seemed to only care a few types such as football, finesse and maybe a few swimming jigs.  On top of the lack of variety they also all seemed to all have rattles on them.  Literally the Bass Pro Shop was exclusively selling jigs with rattles.  I went up to the counter and asked a Fishing Representative about the issue and he responded "Well the fisherman seem to only want the ones with rattles, so that is all we are selling."...What?  At this point I was astonished.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  I then decided to go on over to the fishing line section to pick up "Berkley Vanish 17 Lb. Fluorocarbon" and they didn't carry it.  Once again my face turned ghost white and I decide it was time to leave the store.  They also didn't have any Berkley Line in general.

 

Conveniently there is a Walmart that is located directly across the Bass Pro Shops parking lot so I decided to head over there.  Well, when I went over there I found everything I was looking for.  It seems so odd to me that a Walmart would carry a much more variety of certain fishing items such as jigs.  I guess I look at Bass Pro Shops sometimes and feel that I'm only going there for the name.  I deep down think Bass Pro kind of sucks.  Maybe it is just the one close to me that sucks, any thoughts?  I usually will just do my buying through ***.com

[JigMe]

There are two Walmart store within 10 miles of my house and they carry different fishing items. I am able to pick up 4 dollar senko from time to time at one store. Then if i want to buy some pan fish items, i need to head over to a different store. After a while I am tired of it, and just order everything online.

[Big C]

I am really not a fan of BPS.  They are a quantity over quality retailer.  They kinda scratch the backs of the HUGE lure companies (Strike King, Zoom, ect) , which isn't a bad thing.  They don't sell a ton of those brands that are really good at one or two things. TW is where it's at.

[Long Mike]

In my neck of the woods it is the exact opposite.  My local super Walmart's fishing section is nothing more than pathetic.  It consists of one 20' shelf section, with lures, line,rods,reels, etc. on one side, and boating equipment on the other.  On the other hand,  BPS's store has aisle upon aisle of fishing gear.  Further, my local Academy Sports store also blows Walmart out of the water with it's selection.

[davecon]

I despise Walmart !

In my area when they first opened Walmart had a huge fishing section, remarkable selection of top lures, well stocked and replenished, all at really good prices. They literally ran the majority of the small tackle shops out of business. Once the small independants went out of business Walmart reduced the size of their fishing section, minimized the selection, never have "new" products in their line, and don't replenish their inventory very often. With most of the smaller shops now gone you had to order online.

Fortunately a BPS opened a couple of months ago in our area. Do they have anything and everything you could possibly want ? Of course they don't, but think about it, with all the products, sizes, colors, models, etc that is virtually impossible !

After watching what Walmart did locally they could rot for all I care.

[BaitMonkey1984]

So let me help you out. The Hooksett BPS store is 20 minutes from my house. It has mostly everything I want/need. However, before the Hooksett store opened two years ago I would have to go to the BPS in Foxboro by Patriot Place. Those two stores are night and day. Foxboro is 2 floors, has a pub, and likely 4x the space. I love it but is is 45+ minutes away, so most of the time I can get by with the Hooksett store. Also, being in NH it is tax free so when making big purchases like graphs etc it rocks. 

 

Also, the new cabelas (this year) opened in Hudson, MA is on the way to Foxboro from your neck of the woods, so you can hit up both. One thing that drives me crazy is that after the explosion of the ned rig, I can't find it in any stores and still have to order it on TW. 

[K_Mac]

My experience is more like Long Mike's. My Walmart has a limited selection of the things I want at best. The St. Louis area Bass Pro Shop has a great selection. It doesn't always have everything I want, but I am a fan. Their customer service is second to none. Try finding someone who gives a rip at Walmart; there are some, but your odds aren't good.

[Hurricane]

They built a Cabelas by me a year ago and I love it.. Beats Dicks Sporting Goods by a mile..

[Catch and Grease]

*cough* ACADEMY *cough* *cough*

[DogBone_384]

I wrote a case study on Walmart for my MBA.

In short they were charged with, and found guilty of locking employees in stores until they were finished working while not paying them OT.

They also bought a chain of stores in Canada as part of their expansion: only the chain's non-union stores.

I could go on for pages....

I don't shop there.

As far a BPS, they've got nearly everything I look for though I've noticed during the last year or so much more shelf space is allocated to the 'house brand', which makes sense from a retail perspective. After all, whose name is on the door?

[PourMyOwn]

*cough* ACADEMY *cough* *cough*

We don't have those up here, sadly. I can sympathize with the OP, the Hooksett BPS is not that great.

[bigbill]

I don't understand walmart(FLW) each Wal-Mart fishing department is different. The Wal-Mart in Bristol,ct when it first opened had everything in there fishing department. I was impressed so much I sent a email to there corporate CEO.

Why can't every Wal-Mart look like that. The only difference I can see if a Wal-Mart is near the ocean/saltwater then they need to add the saltwater fishing stuff.

I was up in Maine at a super Wal-Mart. The gal in the sports department knew modern guns, military guns, ammo and fishing too. It was a pleasure to talk with her. We talked about hunting too.

Why don't these stores hire sports minded sales clerks.

Each chain store I find is different.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

 

So I went to Bass Pro Shops in (Hooksett, New Hampshire)

Does this BassPro carry a good selection of saltwater gear? The store nearest me (Hanover, MD) caters to a lot of saltwater anglers because of our close proximity to the Atlantic/Chesapeake. Because of this, the freshwater selection is smaller than other BassPro stores. Hooksett is close to the ocean, if I remember correctly. Cool name for a town, by the way.

 

If you go inland BassPro stores have an incredible selection of freshwater (bass) gear. I've been to BassPro stores in several states, and the selection of bass stuff tends to get better the further you get from the coast. 

[Bass newb]

Bass pro shops in Leeds Al carries infinity bass fishing items. Local wal mart carries almost nothing by comparison. Neither store however, carries a jig with a double weed guard.

[Chance_Taker4]

BPS used to be the only place I shopped for tackle but a couple months ago I interviewed for the fishing department head manager position. I was beat out by a guy that doesn't fish but had years of managerial expirience. I was told I could be a part time associate wiry my knowledge but fishing knowledge isn't a requirment for employment. One of the major responsibilities of the managment spots I wanted was to decide what products to put on the shelf. Im pretty sure you need some fishing knowledge to do that. So I quit going to bps. I now get my stuff online or Walmart. My Walmart has a fantastic selection. I bought my last 2 revo stx there and my veritas 2.0 rods at Walmart.

[Rob96]

All within 10-30 minutes of my house I ha 3 Wamarts, 2 DSG's and a Cabela's. BPS is an hour and a half trip one way and not worth it. The selection is not that great and pricing is higher than the others I can go to.

[Senko lover]

I've found some killer deals at Walmart; it's my place to go when I need a couple of things or the bait monkey is leading me to get something on sale (I'm a sucker for sales ). My main complaint with them is the employees. You know how some people look like they're having a bad day? Well, the outdoor section employees in my walmart look like that every day, and they don't treat you very nicely. 

 

BPS is pretty good, especially for rods and reels, I enjoy going there. 

[Todd2]

I have a Cabelas and BPS both around 30 mins from my house. There is now an Academy about 5 mins away and I like it a lot. Not really a need to go anywhere else, except a little local shop (also about 5 mins from my house) that sells Mccoy line and I'll grab some plastics and stuff there too to support the local guy.

[edfitzvb]

Here in Tidewater Virginia I live about 10 minutes away from two Walmarts, and two DSG stores. The BPS is about 40 minutes away, so it is still do-able. No Academy, no Cabelas. BPS has by far the best selection, but Walmart has the best sales during the off-season when I buy most of my lures. Additionally, DSG has good off-season buys on clearance stuff. Bought several reels a couple of years ago because of that.Having said that, I do probably 75% of my tackle buying online and second hand. I like getting a BANG for my buck.

[kadas]

They built a Cabelas by me a year ago and I love it.. Beats Dicks Sporting Goods by a mile..

Same here--New Cabela's store just down the road--it also has my Dick's Sporting Good store beat hands down but that is not saying much--My Dick's Sporting use to have a pretty good hunting and fishing but it has slowly gone by the wayside to make room for more clothes and shoes--very seldom even go there anymore-just stop in once in a while to see if it is still as bad as it was

[Fishing Rhino]

It's getting to be that time of the year.  I hope TW has their annual Christmas sale on gift cards.  Ten percent off.  You can get a hundred dollar gift card for ninety bucks.

 

Their customer service is excellent, and if you want your order quickly, you have options.  Five dollars for two day shipping, ten dollars for one day.  That depends on when they get your order.  If you order late in the day, it won't get shipped until the next day, so you have to add a day to the quick delivery options. 

 

If you buy stuff on sale, using your discounted gift card you get a heck of a deal.

 

I like BPS, but not their prices.  It's an hour's ride, so it takes about six gallons of gas, round trip.  That is currently twelve dollars.  More expensive than the ten dollar one day shipping, not to mention the savings on the order.

 

When my wife goes to the outlet mall we pass within five miles of the BPS.  If I need something, I may make the side trip to pick up the fishing gloves, or a hat with the side curtains.   Maybe some two cycle oil for the bass boat. 

 

It's a nice place to stroll around and take in all the sights and new items.

[hatrix]

I live in Cleveland where no one ever goes fishing or owns a boat so we don't have any BPS or Cabelas anywhere close. There is no point in even opening one up around here. I could see if maybe Cleveland was on like one of the biggest bodies of water on the planet and actually had like a thousand people out fishing everyday. Then maybe we would have stores like that.

[Felix77]

I find myself at BPS to browse and catch an occasional sale. Occasional being operative because their sale prices still tend to be on the high side.

I research there and then buy elsewhere more often than not.

As for WalMart. They have all the essentials at good pricez. Take it from someone who travels for work ... they never disappoint for those essentials and local favorites. Case in point in LA I got Roboworms. In Texas the mag Ol Monsters. In NY craws, craws and more craws.

[Raul]

When I lived in McAllen I had 2 Academy Sports from where to choose ( one is actually in McAllen and the other one is in Mission ) I made my everyday tackle purchases there, they had pretty much most of the stuff I "needed", Walmart, well I had two stores nearby and ....... do they have a fishing tackle section ?   I also ordered on-line fro BPS and TW, only a few times I did make the travel to BPS San Antonio, it does have a good selection of stuff but the truth is that the trip was just to visit the store, Cabela´s ? I think, if memory does´t fail me, that I´ve ordered three times from them, got to admit that I got a really good clearance price on TDZs, $100 bucks off per reel, so I just had to order 4 of them . 

[hatrix]

I haven't ordered online from bps in quite some time. The last time I had items that shipped out on 3 separate days and got hit for shipping 3x on that deal. Needless to say I wasn't very happy when I found out.