Bass Pro Shops, among the original retailers offering shoppers experiences, is planning its first store in the San Diego area with its signature showrooms focused on fishing, hunting and other outdoor sports as part of its nationwide expansion.
The Springfield, Missouri-based chain plans a 148,000-square-foot store as its sixth in California, with a 2028 opening on the site of a vacated Macy’s. The Bass Pro Shops outlet is expected to include such elements as fully stocked aquariums, boat and ATV showrooms, and museum-quality taxidermy exhibits at Grossmont Center mall in La Mesa, California, an eastern San Diego suburb.
Retail customers are seeking “memorable experiences and personalized interactions with brands. It’s no longer simply about the size of the box or where it is located.”
The retailer was founded in 1972 by well-known fisherman and conservationist Johnny Morris, who remains its CEO. Bass Pro Shops has 182 stores nationwide with large and interactive features — many built to reflect the region where they are located — that are designed to bring in families and other outdoor enthusiasts.
“With access to both saltwater and freshwater fishing, this area offers something truly special, and we look forward to helping families and friends enjoy it together,” Morris said in a statement regarding the planned San Diego regional location.
Bass Pro was an early proponent of having store and mall operators install elements that offer customers something they can’t get through online shopping. Features have included rock-climbing walls at sporting goods stores, pickleball courts and bowling lanes at restaurants, and attractions like high-tech golfing ranges and kid-focused science and ice cream museums.
Brokerage JLL said “experience portfolios” have become increasingly as important as location decisions when it comes to real estate expansion by retail tenants. Toymaker Lego, for instance, incorporated interactive customer elements into its retail store growth strategy that helped it increase annual sales by 12%.
Shoppers seek interactions with brands
Retail customers are seeking “memorable experiences and personalized interactions with brands,” JLL analyst Emily Miller said in a report earlier this year. “It’s no longer simply about the size of the box or where it is located.”
The planned Bass Pro store near San Diego is “exactly the kind of destination retailer that brings people together,” said Jon Stoeckly, vice president of regional development at Federal Realty Investment Trust, owner of Grossmont Center mall in La Mesa, in the Bass Pro statement.
La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis called the Bass Pro a milestone in an ongoing transformation of the 64-year-old Grossmont Center, a property that's seeking to attract visitors after Macy’s and other retailers closed during the past two years.
According to Joshua Ohl, senior director of market analytics for CoStar Group in San Diego, the Bass Pro plans arrive as the region’s overall retail space availability rate fell on a quarter-over-quarter basis during the three months ended June 30. That was the first time such a drop occurred in more than a year; availability dropped from a five-year high to a level now around 6.8 million square feet, below the long-term average.
“New development has been limited and is unlikely to materially expand tenant options in the near term,” Ohl said, noting less than 50,000 square feet in the current under-construction pipeline is available for lease.
“Redevelopment activity continues to reduce existing inventory,” Ohl said. “Last year, around 400,000 square feet of retail space was sold with the stated purpose of redeveloping into housing.”
Located near a large population
While he couldn’t comment directly on the Bass Pro Shops project in La Mesa, Ohl said the Grossmont Center location is within a densely populated area and freeway adjacent.
“The mall should provide plenty of foot traffic from other anchor tenants, like Target and Walmart,” Ohl said.
Bass Pro Shops is debuting some of the retail industry’s largest stores by square footage at a time when many chains are downsizing their formats along with store counts in the age of online shopping.
The company previously announced a fall opening for a 200,000-square-foot store in Sayreville, New Jersey, which will be its largest U.S. Bass Pro location. That store is slated to include a 65,000-gallon “Shipwreck Aquarium,” a 12,000-gallon ray touch pool and an interactive “Sketch Aquarium” with immersive exhibits for kids, according to a statement.
Stores opened earlier this year in Tucson, Arizona; and Fort Smith, Arkansas, with an opening planned for late 2026 in Victor, New York, near Rochester. The company previously announced new Bass Pro locations are planned to debut over the next two years in Paducah, Kentucky; and Abilene, Texas.
Bass Pro Shops also has a hospitality arm, known as Johnny Morris Nature Resorts, that recently acquired Cheeca Lodge and Spa, a luxury resort in the Florida Keys.