Although this is likely to get some business owners upset in the Mt. P and Charleston area because it is coming, I get a lot of my stuff through Bass Pro Shop. Instead of ordering things online, now I’ll be able to just drive over to the store, or I can order gear online and have it shipped to the store for free. However, I hope Charleston Angler and Haddrell’s survive because I can imagine this is a tremendous threat to them–especially with the controversial tax breaks Bass Pro Shop will be getting.
Small shops will be ok once the novelty of Bass Pro wears off. It’s not like Bass Pro is on the way to the inshore fishing grounds. I have found that Bass Pro to be greatly overrated…they have no specialty items…over-priced…poor quality items that have a Bass Pro name…
Cabela’s and Field and Stream maga-stores are very similar to Bass Pro.
Although this is likely to get some business owners upset in the Mt. P and Charleston area because it is coming, I get a lot of my stuff through Bass Pro Shop. Instead of ordering things online, now I’ll be able to just drive over to the store, or I can order gear online and have it shipped to the store for free. However, I hope Charleston Angler and Haddrell’s survive because I can imagine this is a tremendous threat to them–especially with the controversial tax breaks Bass Pro Shop will be getting.
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
Threat to them? I would not think so as most folks will not drive to summerville to buy their gear. Best of luck to you when you need service or someone to answer your questions.
Well no question it will cut into their business. For everyone who buys fishing equipment at the Bass Pro, that business would have gone somewhere else in the area. Will they survive is another question, and I’m sure they will, just with not the same amount of sales as before the Bass Pro Shops opened.
it will cut into their business. But not by much. When was the last time folks in mount pleasant trekked to north Charleston to buy anything?
BTW, The hadrells in west ashley is really under publicized. i just went to it for the first time and had never seen it or even seen a sign for it before. I’ve lived in the tricounty area for 22 years, but recently moved to west ashley, so i finally checked it out. I didn’t even know it existed until about 6 months ago.
I understand giving tax breaks to manufacturers and i think that can be beneficial for lots of people in the area. However, giving tax breaks to a big box retail store is pretty BS in my opinion and just destroys local business. I won’t be shopping there, although I have shopped at bass pro shops before in other states.
I’ll go there and look around. But I’ll still buy most of my gear from Haddrell’s and Chas. Angler. I doubt Bass Pro has much effect on the local guys. Our local fisherman and outdoorsman are smarter than that. If they draw a bunch of tourists to spend their money here, more power to them.
All-in-all, I am glad Bass Pro is coming. I fish freshwater too, and WalMart and some of the other stores don’t always have what I need. I won’t have to drive to Myrtle Beach anymore to get specific things. When I was driving back and forth from Camp Lejeune on the weekends, I had to pass close to the Bass Pro in Myrtle Baech, and it was not a problem. Now, I’ll be coming from the other direction, from Beaufort, so it will be nice for me. I like Bass Pro Shop, but at the same time, I hate to see it put pressure on the smaller businesses that have been around for a long time.
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
Everyone can say what they think, so i think i will too, Yes there will be a small amount of loyalty to the smaller local shops but the bottom line is going to be price and selection, and sometimes price will not even play a part . the smaller shops will suffer and they would be smart to start now trying to fill a niche that the big box stores do not have, and what is that you might ask? , i wish i could insert the correct answer here but i just do not know what it is… maybe reel cleaning service, shop talk, boat & motor repairs, etc???, My family has first hand experience of trying to compete with a big box store (Super WalMart) and we tried many different things but still ended up closing the doors of a Small Family owned Hardware Store that had been in business for over 20 years that was on the wrong side of town when the four lane by pass came through… and Super Walmart built on the other side of town on the by pass… and the small shops in the town of Murphy, NC dried up. so we can all say “oh they will survive, or they will be ok, its not gonna matter” but if we do not help them, they will have no choice but to lay people off and liquidate,this small group of anglers or locals on this site will not be enough for them all to keep their doors open, and that my friends is a sick feeling,then you wonder where all those loyal customers went:roll_eyes: I am not bitter, , but i can also remember when 5 bucks of gas was almost a full tank and you even got your oil checked and windshield washed for free, where did the service stations go, and remember when you had to sit down in a restaurant to eat, not drive through so you can grab a meal in a bag from a window just so you could eat in the car,and when a bank took a mans word for a loan an a mans word was as good as any signed contract, well the times they are a changing, if you don’t believe me what is that thing hanging on your belt or in your pocket, , the cell phone, remember when you had to hunt down a phone booth just to make a ca
I do not know, but I suspect the same thing. That is the reason I posted about it in the first place. Yes, I do remember when there was service. Now, people ring up and check themselves out of stores. What’s next, theives and criminals arresting themselves for crimes (just being a little nonchalant, but in agreeance)?
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
I’m not driving from mt p to summerville to buy anything especially not bait and tackle. Everybody has free shipping anymore. If it made that big of a difference I would buy it online.
Go ask someone at Bass Pro Shops how to fish the jetties, flats, troll, fish one of our many reefs, etc. I bet 95% of the time the person your talking to won’t have a clue what you are talking about. How about the personal attention and expertise you get at Haddrells? How about the fishing seminars they do frequently that provide tons of great info? Haddrells and Charleston Angler have some great people working for them. I will always spend my hard earned money in Haddrells. They’ve been here for 30 years and I want them here 30 more. BPS will never match the quality of service our local shops provide.
To be clear, I didn’t post it to doubt what you are saying here. What you are saying makes sense; however, I do feel there will be some sort of economic impact for the smaller shops. Generally speaking, the big money comes in, and the little guy suffers. The specifics you are talking about are all true, and just as I stated, I hope those guys survive…and even thrive. But, if I owned Haddrell’s or Charleston Angler, I would be worried about it–at least to some degree. Only time will tell. Like you, I plan on buying stuff from Haddrells when I get back–like fiddler crabs when I don’t have time to catch them. They have stuff I need that I can’t get at BPS. On the other hand, BPS has things I can’t get at Haddrells–like a certain frog I use for Largemouths.
In an Emergency Management social assessment I did: “Roughly 4.51 million people come to vacation in Charleston with an “estimated economic impact of $3.22 billion” annually (The City of Charleston, 2013).”
Surely, BPS will attract some of that money for the people inside that 4.51 million who like to fish and some of the locals. Hopefully, the BPS location will hamper that for the Mt.P area.
Again, only time will tell, but it is reasonable to think there is at least the potential for low to moderate economic impact for our local guys. Heck…even WalMart will have to deal with them to some extent. Carolina Rod and Gun will have to deal with them in a big way. With more volume of goods, the prices tend to go down. Hunters will go to get Bows, arrows, bullets, and Guns, and while they are there, the walk right by the fishing section. Oh, wait a minute…I see something I want to use fishing next weekend, and they buy it. There goes one trip cancelled to a local guy potentially.
Of course there will be an impact on local sales, mostly when it first opens up. I live about 3 hrs from Myrtle Beach so when I come down I always go to the local places to get tackle & bait, I buy all my rods & reels from a some what local to me discount place. Why pay $90 for a reel at BP when I can get it for $45 at a discount place. I do love to go to BP when I go to MB but it is typically to look (dream) at the boats & what I do buy from BP is only stuff I cannot find at my local places or local from the places I am fishing at.
I will admit to buying occasional items at BP when in MB…hooks, jigheads, etc… but, try to find anyone there that can answer a real fishing/tackle question and that becomes a problem. I tried to find someone that could answer some questions about fishfinders/chartplotters. They guy that came over did not even know how to turn most of them on. He pretty much gave up, mumbled something about “getting someone to help me” and wandered off. I went in a year or so ago to look at a kyayaking PFD. I got sent from boating to kayaking and then back to boating. No one (including the asst. manager) knew exactly which section it should have been in. When no one could find it, I asked if someone could check their computer to see if they even should one on inventory. Man, you’d have thought I asked them to conduct an entire store search. No, BP is fun to walk around and spend a couple of dollars on insignificant items but, my experiences in them have been to not expect terribly good service.
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
They should build it near the Tanger outlets. The traffic on Hwy 78 and I26 doesn’t need more congestion and it certainly isn’t near any touristy areas. As for the BP economic impact on other shops, I don’t think it will be significant. I have been to several of their stores including the huge one in Ft Myers, 15 minutes and I walked out with a $6 tick remover. Their prices aren’t cheap, their boating equipment selection is average, and I don’t have room for any more fishing equipment. The people that will like it the most are the ones that need a job, but I doubt most will make more than minimum wage. The tax giveaways that our governments dole out just make the rest of us peasants all pay more, just go to a local restaurant and notice that you pay 10.5% tax on your bill.
Wearing clothing with BP printed on it is like wearing something with KMart or WalMart printed on it, no thanks.
XPS clothing is perfectly comfortable and saves me money. If you want to wear Gucci sunglasses while you’re fishing, that’s fine, but don’t look down on others who wear Guide Gear camouflage or XPS long underwear.
My Great Value cooking oil doesn’t throw off the taste of my fish either.
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Bass Pro said about 116 million people shopped at one of their 58 stores in 2012 – 41 million more than attended a Major League Baseball game during the year. Its website was visited 86 million times, according to data compiled by Experian Hitwise. The company said the average customer drives more than 50 miles to visit a store and stays for more than two hours.
According to a November 2012 report by Moody?s Investors Service, Bass Pro has annual sales of at least $2.6 billion. Morris, 65, owns the majority of the closely held company, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, after buying back a 28.5 percent stake from private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates LP in 2004 and a 13 percent stake from Gaylord Entertainment Co. three years later.
With numbers like these they are doing something right,that would be an average of $44 million per store per year ,is that right? i am sure they have done their homework before opening a store here,
Everyone can say what they think, so i think i will too, Yes there will be a small amount of loyalty to the smaller local shops but the bottom line is going to be price and selection, and sometimes price will not even play a part . the smaller shops will suffer and they would be smart to start now trying to fill a niche that the big box stores do not have, and what is that you might ask? , i wish i could insert the correct answer here but i just do not know what it is… maybe reel cleaning service, shop talk, boat & motor repairs, etc???, My family has first hand experience of trying to compete with a big box store (Super WalMart) and we tried many different things but still ended up closing the doors of a Small Family owned Hardware Store that had been in business for over 20 years that was on the wrong side of town when the four lane by pass came through… and Super Walmart built on the other side of town on the by pass… and the small shops in the town of Murphy, NC dried up. so we can all say “oh they will survive, or they will be ok, its not gonna matter” but if we do not help them, they will have no choice but to lay people off and liquidate,this small group of anglers or locals on this site will not be enough for them all to keep their doors open, and that my friends is a sick feeling,then you wonder where all those loyal customers went:roll_eyes: I am not bitter, , but i can also remember when 5 bucks of gas was almost a full tank and you even got your oil checked and windshield washed for free, where did the service stations go, and remember when you had to sit down in a restaurant to eat, not drive through so you can grab a meal in a bag from a window just so you could eat in the car,and when a bank took a mans word for a loan an a mans word was as good as any signed contract, well the times they are a changing, if you don’t believe me what is that thing hanging on your belt or in your pocket, , the cell phone, remember when you had to hunt down a phone booth just to make a ca
i am sure they have done their homework before opening a store here,