Im thinking about opening an exclusive bass shop in the dfw area I'm a distributor for many brands as I own a wholesale bait business I also sell electronics trolling motors and boat accessory I know there is a lot of competition with bass pro, academy, and big box stores just curious what you guys thought if this would be something that would work. I would carry some crappie stuff and catfish but my main focus would be to cater to the bass fishermen

Southwest Parts in Dallas and Olsen�s in FW have been around forever. I�m sure there�s room for one more.

Would it be open on weekends?

Just my .02-
If you carry the same thing as BassPro, Walmart, and Academy, but charge more, it won�t work. If you carry the hard-too-find products that BPS and others don�t have- you�ll have a better shot. Southwest and Olsens are probably still around because they built loyal customer base before BPS and Academy came to town. On the flip side, BPS is overwhelming and Academy is often a mess. If you can create a better shopping experience, you�d have my biz.


Good luck!

If the prices and selection are right you will have plenty of business. With all of the competition, you would have to separate yourself from the rest with either lower prices or a better selection (Or both).

There is a ton of competition in what is a small market.

You could do demographics and see if there is a niche market out there. If you already do a decent business selling your product online, a small storefront would not cost much to open and supplement the internet business.

Location would likely be extremely important. I do make the drive to Southwest parts once in awhile, but that's pretty far out of my way compared to BPS or Cabelas.

Honestly not sure how important this is to the diehard bass fishermen.

Barlows sells everything, mostly for rolling your own, but plenty of of everything else in store (or was last time I was there 10 yrs ago)

North bound 75 and 121 in Melissa by the new Bucees would capture some driving to Pat Mayse, Ray Roberts, Texoma, Lake Bonham, Kiowa, and some smaller lakes up north

Lots of bass fishermen and smaller private bass lakes in that area

You may not want to limit yourself to just bass. The area stores that do well often sell live bait and that is what brings in the customers on a regular basis.

Right now I am a distributor to 85 bait shops in the midwest I carry a lot of big brands and i go direct with almost all major companies I sell a lot of live bait and raise a decent amount of shiners and fathead minnows my family and I are in the process of making a decision on moving back to the dallas area I am a big fisherman myself and this is what I want to keep doing we have an opportunity to sell our buissness here and I will be signing a no compete for the four states that i do now I was wanting to get more into the bass market I started in retail here and then got into the wholesale side and it grew so fast that i decided that i needed to focus on wholesale and closed my retail store now I'm wanting to give it a run and head to the warmer weather I was thinking in the lewisville grapevine or frisco area somewhere around lake lewisville or grapevine lake.

The only way I see someone competing with the big box stores is to work with the smaller bait companies. Big box stores often require an agreement for 90 day invoice payment as well as the ability to order a great deal more than needed and return what they don�t sell....doing this, they lose out on some great baits from smaller companies that can�t meet those requirements. There are bunches of these companies that would love to work on a smaller scale with reasonable payment terms...the tough part is finding the ones with well received baits and a good following.

The retail store I had here was known for the hard to find products and I like carrying the unique things because thats what gets people to make the drive to check the store out and I have the ability to carry anything I just have to know what is going to sell that way I don't have things on the shelf collecting dust

The south side of Lewisville, I35E/121 area would catch traffic going up 35 to Lake Lewisville and Ray Roberts and 121 traffic going to east side of Lake Lewisville and west to Grapevine. Competition would be Academy in Lewisville (not stocked very well for fishing) and Bass Pro (Grapevine), neither of which have much in the way of live bait. There used to be a gas station in Grapevine that sold minnows but I don't know if they are still there. Bass Pro stopped doing bulk line winding, only wind line if you buy the regular spools of line there or buy a reel.

I also agree with not limiting just to black bass, there are a lot of crappie, catfish, white bass and hybrid fishermen and women in this area....