I went into a BassProShop yesterday.

[Darth-Baiter]

my friend wanted some Blackrifle coffee.  I needed to pee.

 

so we went.  I went to look for some usual suspects.  been a decade since I step foot in a store.  first it was dead.  a crowd gathered around the fish tank, but that was it.  relatively dead. 

 

I walked into the HUGE bait dept and gave up.  I asked a guy if they had any 6" plastic swimbaits.  the Megabass Freestyle or Magdraft in particular.  he took me to the keitech section and pointed at and said, " we have those, but I dont think we have the Megabass".  what he pointed at were exactly the Megabass.  I was, "?".

 

they didnt have the color I want, so I left.   the store is almost too much for me.  information overload.  I just want to to in and get out.  it wasn't designed for me.  you gotta browse.  cant be sure, but I think BPS was $2 more on the same baits.  it was just a quick glance.

 

I think there is too much chingaderos around.  BPS caps, sweatshirts, towels, mugs...the list goes on and on.  its like a fun house.  

[Tennessee Boy]

The store here is very busy.  They have by far the best selection of any store in the area.  I only go there on weekdays.   It’s hard to even get in the parking lot on the weekend.  I haven’t had much interaction with the staff but I haven’t been impressed.  There are things they seem to struggle to get right.  They had a special last year were you got 10% off of anything you ordered online and had shipped to the store.   I ordered Mega Live this way because it saved me $150.   It was in stock.  I could have got it shipped to my house in 2 days.  It took two weeks to get to the store and it was a royal pain to pick up at the customer service desk.

[Captain Phil]

Bass Pro Shops is a good company for on-line ordering.  Their stores are a waste of time.  Popular fishing lures are always out of stock, the shelves are a mess and the people are clueless.  They have plenty of their own brands, but few name brand items.  They do have a decent selection of boating accessories.  Unless you want T-shirts, order on-line and save the gas.

[PressuredFishing]

There are several reasons I DONT like bps much anymore

 

1. They pump their own bps lures over high quality lures, want damiki, megabass, jackall, r2s baits exist but not readily available. If I'm paying 5 bucks for a pack of stick o, just give me the real thing from tw for a buck or two more or on sale for the same price

 

2. They have a misleading at best and really yucky sales pratice at worst selection on casting reels and rods. I am 100% sure they partnered up with pure fishing (a company i really hate for so many reasons) so they only carry casting reels under 100$ in pure fishing or Johnny Morris reels, good luck finding a diawa cc80? Cr80, shimano caius, or even a feugo, they gaslighted me into believing none of those reels even existed for a while.

 

Finally they NEVER have any good sales, and only sales on their own products, where other places like fishUSA, and tw have 20% the entire store often.

 

 

[Deleted account]

49 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I think there is too much chingaderos around.  BPS caps, sweatshirts, towels, mugs...the list goes on and on.  its like a fun house.  

 

LOL. Chingaderos is where the $ is made. JM is rolling in dough, so I'm sure he must be doing something right. 

[cheezyridr]

i rarely go in there.  there is almost nothing in there that i can't get online, for less.

it's just easier to pick out what i want, click the paypal button, and it shows up at my door just like wiley coyote.

 

i like digitaka and tackle warehouse

Edited March 26, 2023 by cheezyridr
squirrels

[NavyToad]

Bass Pro is less than 30 miles from me and I’ve been there 3 times in 15 years. As @Captain Phil said, they’re not well stocked and their shelves are a mess. I don’t even order from them on line. Any savvy internet shopper can always find a better deal than Bass Pro and for some of us that’s half the fun. If I want something I don’t mind surfin’ the net for an hour or more looking for discounts and comparing shipping charges. I cut my teeth shopping on the internet looking for motorcycle parts using dial-up. I’ve been at it awhile.

[Captain Phil]

Retail has changed a bunch in the last ten years.  Unless you're selling $20K Rolex watches or cheap discount items, you may as well close the store.  Online is where it's at and Bass Pro does a better job at that than most.  As for quality rods and reels, I have had good luck with Tackle Warehouse as long as you know what you want.   I haven't tried some of the other online retailers mentioned on this forum. There are still a few great local tackle shops left.  For how long, I don't know.

[Eric 26]

I may be in the minority here but my local Bass Pro (Bolingbrook Il) has been good to me over the years. I rarely go there except this time of year for the trade in sale which has changed due to supply chain issues, in the past I was able to order what I wanted even if they didn’t stock it as long as their vendor carried the rod/reel I was after. As far as the lures I actually like many of their house branded lures including their crank baits and especially their chatterbaits, I’ve also found their plastics last me a good while also. The sales staff can be hit or miss but heck I find that the norm these days in every big chain store from automotive parts to the butcher department in my local grocery stores. As @NavyToad commented the internet is a wonderful resource to find a great price with some patience. Lastly I will say I choose to when possible support my local tackle shops of which I’ve mentioned in the past I have 2 relatively close by that are extremely helpful. 

[Zcoker]

Bass Pro is decent and if planning to go to one, make it a point to hang out, spend some time, and have some fun. Online nowadays is like shopping in China lol Bass Pro is hands on brick and mortar made in the USA.. There's plenty to see and plenty to do and plenty to buy! lol Just recently dropped by one in Port St Lucy Florida. I didn't know they had bought out Star Rods inventory and put the entire Stellar Lite lineup at half price! Those Stellar Lite rods are awesome! I walked out of the store with 3 of them. I also got the new Daiwa MQ 4k. Nice reel. When I left, my wife said that the bill looked kinda small. What? They didn't charge me for the reel! An oversite. So I went back and made them put it on my card. They gave me some nice gift cards for my honesty. All in all, a great store. They have just about everything anyone would ever need in the outdoor world. 

[Captain Phil]

19 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

When I left, my wife said that the bill looked kinda small.

 

Compared to what your wife is spending at the grocery store these days, it probably was small.  ?

[Micaiah Lindquist]

Just sayin, the one in springfield is pretty awesome.

[Fishin Dad]

I am glad people still like it.  It was great bringing my kids to Cabela’s when It was still around.  Since the merger, and the disappearance of the true Cabela’s brand, I don’t hardly go anymore for the reasons listed above.  I used to drive the 45 minutes a couple times per month and order online frequently.  

[rboat]

Last 2 times in the store have been pretty bad.

1st time the poor girl at the register was new and looked like she was having a hard time. I asked her to use my reward points and she said I am new and not sure how to do that. I said ok. She scanned my reward card, rang me up, and when I got home I noticed I was not given any points. I called the headquarters and they were not any help.

2nd time, I went in on the first Saturday of their big spring classic sale, my mistake, I picked up a couple of BPS 3700 boxes that were on sale and a couple of lures. They have like 12 cash registers. Only 2 were manned and the lines were half way through the store. All the customers were complaining and several left. If they were that short staffed on a day they new would be busy, the manager should have come out of his office to help. Finally a lady from the front entrance counter came over and opened another register. When I got to the register the guy rang up my boxes at full price. I said those are on sale. He said yea, and kept going. Sure enough, I checked the receipt and it was wrong. Now I had to go back to the front counter that was unmanned. 10 minutes later a lady came over and corrected the order. She was rude and did not apologize, or say anything about the wait.

I like to go there just to browse, but my money will now go to TW.

[JustBassinThru]

4 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

I am glad people still like it.  It was great bringing my kids to Cabela’s when It was still around.  Since the merger, and the disappearance of the true Cabela’s brand, I don’t hardly go anymore for the reasons listed above.  I used to drive the 45 minutes a couple times per month and order online frequently.  

The merger of the store's was absolutely awful for the customers. Don't even hardly think about shopping there anymore and I have one close. Honestly sad.

[Bird]

The BPS we have is over an hour drive but look forward to it several times a year.

Have been a patrion for many years....... friendly and helpful. Idk

[TnRiver46]

10 hours ago, Deleted account said:

 

LOL. Chingaderos is where the $ is made. JM is rolling in dough, so I'm sure he must be doing something right. 

Yeah, they have knocked it out the ball park. 

[volzfan59]

All I can really add is the BPS that I worked at (Koday/Sevierville, TN) was great. The store is at the Sevierville/ Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN exit on I-40 so we were always busy with tourists and locals with numerous checkouts open as well as registers in fishing, marine and hunting. I Shopped there for years before I retired and went to work there. I quit around 2016, still shopped there until I moved to SE AR in 2019. Haven't been to that particular store since moving, things may have changed since I've been gone as no one seems to want to work anymore.

All of the associates in the fishing dept were very experienced and knowledgeable angler's. I will say that we only had two experienced fly angler's, so we were lacking there. If someone wanted to see Loomis rods, that's where we took them, same with any other brand. If they wanted to see BPS stuff, that's where we took them. Some folks would want to compare BPS rods, side by side with another brand. It was fine with us. We always greeted our customers and asked if we could help, or not help, however they wanted. Things may have changed since I left, but we basically ran the fishing dept like a mom and pop. Maybe we were the exception, normally we finished second only to the Springfield BPS.

 

It's almost three hours to my closet BPS so I order just about everything now, customer service is great and you can actually speak with an American. Since my card was compromised a couple of years ago, I no longer buy anything from TW. Pricing isn't much different than BPS and TW's shipping is terrible. I order from BPS, I have it within three days. I order from a couple of other places or directly from the manufacturer if BPS doesn't have what I want.

[thediscochef]

The Grapevine Bass Pro (Dallas/Fort Worth) is pretty good in the reels section, but the rest of the store still experiences all those same issues above at peak times and days. I generally only go when it's a weather day, I'm already passing through, or when I need something specific on short notice that I know they carry (rare).

 

I have no brand loyalty with big box retailers of any kind, I kind of see it as matching their level of commitment 

[J._Bricker]

12 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

my friend wanted some Blackrifle coffee.  I needed to pee.

 

so we went.  I went to look for some usual suspects.  been a decade since I step foot in a store.  first it was dead.  a crowd gathered around the fish tank, but that was it.  relatively dead. 

 

I walked into the HUGE bait dept and gave up.  I asked a guy if they had any 6" plastic swimbaits.  the Megabass Freestyle or Magdraft in particular.  he took me to the keitech section and pointed at and said, " we have those, but I dont think we have the Megabass".  what he pointed at were exactly the Megabass.  I was, "?".

 

they didnt have the color I want, so I left.   the store is almost too much for me.  information overload.  I just want to to in and get out.  it wasn't designed for me.  you gotta browse.  cant be sure, but I think BPS was $2 more on the same baits.  it was just a quick glance.

 

I think there is too much chingaderos around.  BPS caps, sweatshirts, towels, mugs...the list goes on and on.  its like a fun house.  

So DB, did you go to Fisherman’s Warehouse (formerly Delta Bait and Tackle) on E. Yosemite Ave by any chance?

[Munkin]

Use to go there about once a month and now only one trip in the past 2 years. Can't stand the vacation rental stalkers they have. I have resorted to telling them my PO says I can't leave the state as part of my parole conditions which stops them.

 

Allen

[Jig Man]

15 hours ago, Micaiah Lindquist said:

Just sayin, the one in springfield is pretty awesome.

Yes it is.  I live about 10 miles from there.  I go there a lot even though I don’t buy much.  I mostly buy stuff at the catalog outlet which is next door.  They have super close outs on boots, shoes, and clothing. I bought 4 St. Croix Avid rods ( new, not refurbished ) for $80 each once and a $150 pair of boots for $36.

[Zcoker]

17 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

 

Compared to what your wife is spending at the grocery store these days, it probably was small.  ?

 

Ain’t that the truth! lol 

[the reel ess]

19 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I haven’t had much interaction with the staff but I haven’t been impressed.

It's a sort of entry level job. Most of us are kind of fanatics. Most of them aren't.

 

I walked into Cabela's about 9 days ago and the only people interested in helping me were pushing time shares.

[Cbump]

20 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

my friend wanted some Blackrifle coffee.  I needed to pee.

 

so we went.  I went to look for some usual suspects.  been a decade since I step foot in a store.  first it was dead.  a crowd gathered around the fish tank, but that was it.  relatively dead. 

 

I walked into the HUGE bait dept and gave up.  I asked a guy if they had any 6" plastic swimbaits.  the Megabass Freestyle or Magdraft in particular.  he took me to the keitech section and pointed at and said, " we have those, but I dont think we have the Megabass".  what he pointed at were exactly the Megabass.  I was, "?".

 

they didnt have the color I want, so I left.   the store is almost too much for me.  information overload.  I just want to to in and get out.  it wasn't designed for me.  you gotta browse.  cant be sure, but I think BPS was $2 more on the same baits.  it was just a quick glance.

 

I think there is too much chingaderos around.  BPS caps, sweatshirts, towels, mugs...the list goes on and on.  its like a fun house.  

Sounds like you have social issues. Weird about COVID, won’t go ask for permission to fish a private pond face to face, haven’t been in a store in 10 years, a slow BPS freaked you out. Relax man. 

Also It blows my mind when people go into BPS, Academy, etc and expect these entry level employees to know everything about the gear they want to buy. Do your homework before you go into a box store. This isn’t the good old days at the hardware/sporting goods store with one owner/operator lol.