A few columns back, I groaned about having to give up precious trout fishing time to
buy groceries.
The truth is, I am not a trout fisherman. I was speaking metaphorically. But a recent visit to Canada’s only Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, located outside of Toronto, made me think I should take the notion a little more seriously.
If ever there was a retail apotheosis of the hunter/fisherman, this place is it. Apotheosis can refer to the elevation of a person to the status of a god, or it can refer to a model of excellence or perfection. In the case of Bass Pro, both meanings apply. Here, hunters and fishermen are gods. And this store is a lovingly crafted facsimile of the Elysian fields and streams in which they dream of casting, hooking, shooting, stalking, camping, birding, boating and, ultimately, trading fish stories.
The store lives up to its name as an ‘Outdoor World.’ First of all, it is enormous. The sheer scale of the place pushes it outside the envelope of most retail imaginations. But without such olympian ambitions, it could not really be called a ‘World,’ much less an ‘Outdoor World.’ This place is big enough to qualify as an amusement park.
But size is not enough to create the Disney World effect. If it were, we’d all take our family vacations at Wal-Mart. To qualify as a quasi-amusement park, you need to be able to walk in and completely disconnect from the real world outside. At Bass Pro, that happens right away. You enter under a waterfall and are greeted by what must be a 10-ft.-high stuffed grizzly, his teeth bared in a rough welcome.
Then you begin to sense the scale of the place, with its soaring rafters reaching heights that would match a baroque church, and its 360-degree clerestory, which, like those churches, is decorated in carefully executed frescoes depicting archetypal scenes of the great outdoors. And BTW, these are not the kitschy murals you see in some other stores. They are actually good.
Everywhere above merchandising level you will find 3D tableaus composed of very carefully recovered and arranged antiques taken from the attics and boathouses of cottage country, all configured to create the effect of a fisherman’s or hunter’s cabin. Their authenticity (all antiques are locally sourced) and arrangement trigger an unconscious, nostalgic connection to one of the mythic loci of our culture. So does the single engine seaplane hanging from the rafters.
Everything down to the smallest merchandising category signage and individual product descriptions has been carefully handcrafted with the meticulous obsession of a prizewinning model railroad. All the fixturing is made of carefully hewn wood, including the cash desks. Signs are beautifully handpainted. Merchandise is flawlessly and accessibly displayed.
Whether you are browsing the hundreds of rods or reels or getting lost in the lures, you are never far away from extremely knowledgeable staff who are also hunting and fishing enthusiasts. The sales associates at the reel display regaled us with tales of their own catch of an unusually ‘massive’ perch in nearby Lake Simcoe just the day before.
And if the gear isn’t enough to get you in the mood, there is a 12-ft.-high aquarium nestled in granite from the Canadian Shield and stocked with real muskie, salmon, pike and perch. It was the first time I had ever seen a live muskie in my life.
Over in the hunting section, there is a unique display of whatever you call those things that hunters sit on up in trees while they lie in wait for the likes of Bambi or Bullwinkle. But these elevated platforms are merely a prop in the ersatz forest of tree trunks that have been assembled to display them.
Nearby, we heard a bird caller teaching customers how to attract wild turkey. Talk about experiential branding.
And all of that is on a normal weekday. Weekends in this place can be overwhelming, with indoor flycasting contests, archery demonstrations and other seasonal events.
The only drawback of this brand experience is that it’s almost as captivating as the real thing. It has become such a destination that some people even plan their honeymoons around it. For a would-be trout fisherman like me, the myth has been so effectively packaged that I was perfectly happy to return to the city and write about it without even getting my feet wet.
Will Novosedlik is partner at Toronto-based Chemistry, a brand collaborative which links strategy to communication, organizational performance and customer experience. He can be reached at will@chemistrycorp.com.
