FORMERLY THE ROCKY VIEW FIVE VILLAGE WEEKLY
Volume 35, Number 27	OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR THE MD OF ROCKY VIEW #44	Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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Unique outdoor retailer opening in Rocky View
Liz Lindgren-Kubitz

An American outdoor recreation retail chain will hit the Alberta market with a massive superstore at Balzac’s CrossIron Mills mall which is tentatively scheduled to open in June 2009.

The 150,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops will be large enough to house an extensive showroom for watercraft and outdoor equipment. The company expects to employee 300 people in 2009.

"We look forward to becoming a part of the greater Calgary community and the Alberta region," said Jim Hagale, Bass Pro Shops president.

The outdoor retailer plans to create more than just a store. Planners are designing an educational and entertaining experience for shoppers, based on the natural, local environments of each store location.

The Rocky View store is expected to have a theme that reflects Alberta’s natural landscape and wildlife through huge murals and museum quality wildlife dioramas. Details such as wildlife footprints in cement, wildlife carvings in wooden logs and rafters, artifacts, heritage photos and memorabilia from the area are added to give each store a local personality.

The company has plans to include a laser gallery, climbing wall, archery range, a nature centre, waterfalls and other water features including an aquarium stocked with numerous native fish species.

According to a press release from Larry Whiteley of Bass Pro Shops, it will also offer weekly free outdoor skills workshops for kids, women, novice outdoorsmen and families and says it is not unusual to see scouting groups and school groups on field trips at the stores.

The outdoor retailer sells equipment, supplies and gear for fishing, hunting, hiking, camping and most other outdoor adventures, as well as items for the home garden.

Currently, the company has 49 retail locations in 26 states and Canada and claims to have almost 100 million people visit the stores annually. It started out with just eight feet of retail space in a small store in Springfield, Missouri in 1971.

"Bass Pro Shops is a dynamic outdoor retailer that will significantly enhance the retail and entertainment offering in the western Canadian marketplace and we welcome them to CrossIron Mills," said René Tremblay, president and chief executive officer of Ivanhoe Cambridge, the developer of the project.