ST. LOUIS — South St. Louis County is getting a destination retailer Wednesday night when Bass Pro Shops opens its third St. Louis-area location in Sunset Hills.
The five-day grand opening gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Company officials are hoping this location near interstates 270 and 44 will serve outdoors enthusiasts throughout the region. The 93,000-square-foot store is in the former location of Toys "R" Us.
For 22 years, Bass Pro Shops has been serving the St. Louis region, with another location in St. Charles and a Cabela’s in Hazelwood. Approximately 145 outfitters will deliver their products at the Sunset Hills store.
The grand opening event starts with an Evening for Conservation, where 10% of all sales will go to local conservation organizations. Also, Bass Pro Club members will have exclusive access to 10% discounts on almost everything.
Paul Cox is the general manager at Bass Pro Shops-Sunset Hills.
“After the ribboncutting, we’ll definitely have some celebrities signing autograph," he said. "At this point, we know we’re going to have Roland Martin, nine-time angler of the year, (and) Kevin VanDam, seven-time angler of the year. He also won the Bassmaster Classic four times. We’ve got Mark, Terry and Matt Drury from Drury Outdoors, as well as Cardinals legend Whitey Herzog.”
Each Bass Pro Shop features an aquarium that’s unique to the area it’s located in. In Sunset Hills, the 14,000-gallon aquarium is modeled after Onondaga Cave, located right down the interstate.
Cox said being located in "the Cave State" made the design of this aquarium an easy choice. The aquarium is stocked with native fish, such as large- and small-mouth bass, catfish and walleye.
Bass Pro Shops celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. The company started in Springfield, Missouri, and now has 170 locations in North America.
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