Bass Pro Shops to build an ‘Outpost’ store in Fort Smith

Bass Pro Shops is bringing its Outpost retail store to Fort Smith, the Springfield, Mo.-based company announced Monday (Feb. 10). The store will be located off Rogers Avenue and along Interstate 540 where the former Best Buy building is located.

The 70,000-square-foot Fort Smith store will be the third Bass Pro Shops store in Arkansas and is set to open in early 2026. The other two stores are in Rogers and Little Rock.

The company said it will employ more than 100 at the store. The company did not disclose the planned investment in the store or average employee wages.

The former Best Buy property, owned by Fort Smith-based Westphal Properties, is 36,000 square feet, which means Bass Pro Shops will add 34,000 square feet to build out the store. (Bennie Westphal, an owner of Westphal Properties, is an investor in Natural State Media, the parent company of Talk Business & Politics.)

“We are honored to open our newest location in the Natural State and are grateful for the opportunity to serve the many passionate sportsmen and women in this beautiful region,” said Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris. “We’re proud to become neighbors with our longtime friends from Pradco Outdoor Brands and want to give a special thanks to Bennie Westphal from the Westphal Companies development group for his support in welcoming us to the region.”

Westphal said the project, which took more than two years to pull together, will be a tourism draw for the city.

“I’m excited to have Bass Pro in town. It will be great for the community, it will bring a lot of jobs to the community, and it will bring a lot of people to the community,” Westphal said.

James Roller, general counsel with Westphal Companies, said there are no city or state incentives tied to the project. He said Bass Pro Shops officials “see the growth potential of the city and the region” and they were focused on having a store in Fort Smith.

“In dealing with Bass Pro, they have been adamant that they intended to build a location in Fort Smith. They really like this market,” Roller said.

While the deal has been in the works for more than two years, Roller said it solidified around the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2024. He also said the “quick response time” with Fort Smith city administration and staff “was just fantastic and was key in giving Bass Pro the confidence” to build in Fort Smith.

OUTPOST STORES
The Outpost stores are smaller than the Outdoor World locations and have a cabin or cottage theme. The stores include aquariums, other water features, and murals of scenes local to each store. As with all Bass Pro Shops, they also include boat sales and trophy fish and wildlife mounts.

Bass Pro Shops, an outdoor and conservation company, was founded in 1972 when Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield. The company has grown to almost 200 North American locations.

“Since its founding in 1972, Bass Pro Shops has blazed a new trail in the retail experience for outdoor enthusiasts. As millions of families know, a trip to a Bass Pro Shops is more than a retail experience; it’s an adventure, a mini-vacation, a celebration of nature, and an educational and enriching outing for the entire family,” the company noted in the press release.