I was on a business trip to the US for our marine business. To understand the market, alongside experiencing marine products, everyone told me, “You just HAVE to go to Bass Pro Shops!” I went there with only vague info that it was a huge outdoor shop selling boats, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), and ROVs (recreational off-highway vehicles).
Right next to the store’s parking lot, a huge number of bass boats, pontoon boats, and even ROVs were lined up for sale. The sheer volume of them immediately blew me away. It felt so strange to see pontoon boats, worth about 5 to 10 million Japanese Yen each, just casually displayed there…
The inside of the store is truly an outdoor entertainment space. An overwhelming variety of products, some I’d never seen before, lined the massive space, and my eyes were drawn to the animal taxidermy displayed.
There was a corner selling tons of stuff that looked like it was for hunting. Like, cameras for wild animal photography with outdoor camouflage paint, the kind you often see during recent bear incidents – just all sorts of things.
In the area labeled “GUN LIBRARY,” guns, rifles, and even crossbows were openly sold. This kind of section was separated from the others, with a dedicated purchase counter, so I assume they do some kind of verification. But it’s really scary how cheap and seemingly easy it would be to acquire something like that.
They even sold dedicated gun safes… I have no idea how many guns these are meant to store, but they were mysteriously huge and frankly, a bit unsettling.
There were many products with distinctly “outdoorsy” designs, which would make great souvenirs. The coffee package designs were all pretty mysterious in their own way.
Boots, for example, seemed like something many people would be into. Even with the weak Yen, some were quite reasonably priced, and with such a variety of designs, I bet enthusiasts would buy up a storm.
These sandals had designs I’d never seen in Japan. If you wore these walking around Japan, you’d definitely stand out!
There was also a rich variety of fish finders and similar items. On the other hand, the UIs for these kinds of products were generally quite old-fashioned, which was a bit amusing. I wonder if it’s because their customer base skews older, or if there’s just no trend for UI to become more sophisticated like with smartphones.
They had everything from meat stuffers for sausages to slicers – it felt like they had every product needed, from the start of hunting right up to eating the catch.
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