Friday, November 02, 2007

No Bass Pro in Akron

Missed this yesterday:

    The outdoor sporting goods company, based in Springfield, Mo., has decided not to invest here, Summit County Executive Russ Pry said Thursday.

    "It's nothing against the area," he said. "They were re-strategizing where their development would be."
* * *
    Bass Pro spokesman Larry Whiteley said the area didn't meet the company's needs. He declined to comment further.
You can find archived posts about area attempts to lure Bass Pro and Cabela's here.

3 comments:

Eric R. Swanson said...

Did anyone honestly think this was going to happen? An outdoor superstore in an urban ghetto just doesn't make too much sense.

Anonymous said...

The plans to locate upscale shopping on the Goodyear site have long seemed completely ridiculous to me. Developers and retailers do extensive market research on any given site that includes income within various distances from the site. Although I think the Akron area is due for a Crocker Park style development, there is no way that Goodyear fits the criteria of any responsible business.

Scott Piepho said...

I've seen a number of Bass Pro locations that are in urban markets convenient to interstates. That seemed the big selling point for this one. Bass Pro's business model is to be a destination store, not the corner walk-up market. So I was hopeful. But Bass Pro's other business model is to milk cities for as many freebies as they can get. It may be that Akron wasn't sufficiently Monty Haul with their offer.