Bass Pro counts 1M-plus visitors
Already fulfills promise as key draw for tourism
Bass Pro at The Pyramid in its first two months lived up to its billing as a key attraction drawing visitors to the Memphis riverfront.
Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris said the turnstile count at the Bass Pro doorway reached 1 million visitors on July 8th, the latest date he has available, and has steadily increased.
Morris, in an interview Monday, said Bass Pro in the months ahead may consider adding a zip line and opening a second hotel, and it will look at whether his company might take part in efforts by the city to redevelop nearby sites Downtown.
“The store continues to be really strong,” Morris said, noting sales per customer trail the average Bass Pro, in part because small items such as fudge sell so well, while the volume of visitors exceeds the typical Bass Pro. The general store alone has peddled 12 tons of fudge.
Bass Pro opened the 708-employee Downtown location in late April after converting the stainless steel-clad Pyramid
into a 500,000-square-foot sporting goods emporium styled inside like an old fishing camp. Retail displays stand among a replica of a cypress swamp bounded by a 103-room hotel, restaurants, bowling alley, aquariums, gun and archery ranges, Ducks Unlimited museum, and 30th-floor observation deck looking out over the Mississippi River and Memphis.
The store’s theme-park style and marketing by Bass Pro, a private company with an estimated $4.2 billion in annual sales, has fueled estimates of 1 million to 2 million visitors each year coming to The Pyramid. Those numbers would surpass Graceland attendance and rank Bass Pro as the city’s No. 2 tourist draw after Beale Street’s estimated 5 million.
Large expectations for Bass Pro in turn have led civic leaders to begin examining how to redevelop the underused real estate nearby — the Pinch District and Mud Island River Park — to draw visitors coming from The Pyramid. Bass Pro executives are being invited to take part in preliminary discussions. City officials consider Bass Pro an economic driver in the central business district, said Robert Lipscomb, Memphis director of Housing and Community Development.
While the retailer would not be a likely candidate to operate the river park, Morris said, Bass Pro executives are familiar with leading-edge tourism developments throughout the nation and are willing to discuss ideas with Memphis officials.
“This is a rare project and I think it’s important just what the city and Robert Lipscomb are doing, reaching out to other developers, reaching out to us,’’ Morris said.
“I’m not suggesting we want to be the developer for a huge project,” Morris said. “But if there was something where we felt we could be instrumental in bringing about some more development, even some things we could run, we’d be interested.”
Two projects Bass Pro might take on are a hotel, Morris said, and an amusement park-like ride called a zip line. Its cable is set up outdoors on an incline so gravity can pull down riders at the top. The ride, which was proposed when the new store was in the concept phase, could go near The Pyramid while a hotel might be suited for the Pinch, he said.
“We have an open mind to study” the idea of a hotel, Morris said, noting Bass Pro’s luxury hotel inside The Pyramid, Big Cedar Lodge, was lightly visited when it opened. Now it is being advertised widely.
“One thing we learned is we didn’t pre-promote the hotel with a firm opening date and rates,’’ Morris said. “We didn’t start off with jam-packed occupancy.’’
Downtown merchants said they often see people in their restaurants and stores carrying Bass Pro merchandise. Several say sales revenue is up about 5 percent to 10 percent this summer compared to last, which merchants attribute to the improved economy across the region and Bass Pro.
“We had a really nice July last summer but we are definitely up over last year for June and July. May was our best month ever in our 9 years of existence,’’ said Deni Reilly, owner of the Majestic, an upscale restaurant on South Main.
“Bass Pro brought people Downtown from East Memphis and outside Shelby County,” Reilly said, pointing out the “leisure market is being helped. Bass Pro is not cheap. People coming to see Bass Pro and experience Bass Pro are people with money to spend. They’re advertising The Pyramid in places like D.C.’’
Morris said he didn’t know how many of the first 1 million visitors live outside metropolitan Memphis. He said Bass Pro is getting queries from throughout the nation and world, a sign the marketing effort is successful. At Bass Pro’s original east-side store, which serves area residents, sales have declined since April, he said, but not sharply enough to cause layoffs. Morris declined to report sales revenue for his stores.
Memphis committed $105 million in public money to renovate the 32-story Pyramid after inviting Bass Pro to repurpose the arena, which has been largely idle since FedExForum was opened in 2004 on Beale. Bass Pro’s spending has exceeded $30 million on the project, Morris said.
What could aid Bass Pro is more outdoor space to display items such as boats and trailers during special regional promotions, said Benny Lendermon, president of the Riverfront Development Corp., the agency that operates Mud Island.
Because The Pyramid parking lot usually fills up, Lendermon said, the retailer doesn’t always have enough outdoor space to accommodate the displays and visitors.
“The number of people they are attracting is astronomical,” Lendermon said.
To keep visitors coming to Memphis, Morris said, Bass Pro will continue to put on and widely promote special attractions such as duck hunting and angling.
“We think we’ll continue to thrive as a regional destination and experience,’’ Morris said of The Pyramid. ‘‘Only time will tell, but our goal is to keep fueling the fire.’’