Bass Pro Shops is weeks away from unveiling a 200,000-square-foot Outdoor World location in Sayreville, New Jersey, the company's biggest single-level store anywhere in the United States.
The new store, expected to open in early October, will anchor a section of the Riverton complex, a 400-acre townhome community under construction along the Raritan River and Raritan Bay. Sayreville sits roughly 25 miles southwest of Jersey City, near the junction of the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 95, and Interstate 287, a crossroads that puts the store within easy reach of millions of shoppers across the Tri-State region.
The opening date comes from Sayreville Insider, a local newsletter that first reported the early-October timeline. The U.S. Sun reported it reached out to Bass Pro Shops for comment but did not note a response.
At 200,000 square feet on a single level, the Sayreville location will dwarf most big-box retail footprints. But the sheer floor space may not be the main draw. The store will house a Shipwreck Aquarium experience featuring a 65,000-gallon tank and a 12,000-gallon ray touch pool where visitors can interact with stingrays. An interactive "Sketch Aquarium" rounds out the aquatic attractions, though Bass Pro Shops has not publicly detailed how that feature works.
The store will employ more than 300 people, a meaningful jobs figure for a mid-sized New Jersey borough. Bass Pro Shops has not specified what kinds of positions the hiring will cover.
In a retail landscape where many chains are shrinking their physical footprints and betting on online sales, Bass Pro Shops is doubling down on brick-and-mortar destinations that give customers a reason to show up in person. A 65,000-gallon aquarium qualifies.
Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris started the business in 1972, selling fishing tackle out of his father's liquor store in Springfield, Missouri. That single location remained the company's only storefront for 13 years. Today, Bass Pro Shops operates nearly 200 retail locations across North America.
Morris framed the Sayreville opening as something bigger than another store launch. In a company press release, he said:
"We are honored to help create an unforgettable experience for families throughout the Tri-State Region. This location and concept will be unlike anything ever seen in the outdoor retail industry and truly opens a new chapter in the Bass Pro Shops story."
He added a line that underscored the company's conservation branding:
"To be able to showcase the importance of conservation and help inspire passion for the outdoors with so many families is downright exciting."
The company has leaned heavily into the experiential retail model in recent years. Its Memphis Pyramid location, a converted sports arena, remains one of the most recognizable retail destinations in the country, and the Pyramid recently expanded its dining operations with a new partnership. Meanwhile, Bass Pro Shops has also consolidated smaller locations into larger flagship stores as part of a broader strategy to concentrate traffic at destination-scale outlets.
The Sayreville store lands at a moment when American retail is splitting in two directions. Some chains are pulling back, closing hundreds of locations and shifting to e-commerce. Others are expanding aggressively in physical space. Costco has announced plans for ten new U.S. warehouses before year's end. The retailers that are growing share a common thread: they offer something a browser tab cannot.
Bass Pro Shops has always understood that. A store with a shipwreck aquarium and a stingray pool is not competing with Amazon. It is competing with a Saturday afternoon at the mall, and winning.
Several questions remain unanswered. Bass Pro Shops has not confirmed an exact opening date. The construction status of the Riverton complex itself is unclear, and it is not known whether residents have begun moving into the surrounding townhome development. Whether "biggest single-level location" means the largest Bass Pro Shops overall or simply the largest on a single floor has not been clarified.
What is clear: a company that started with a kid selling tackle out of a liquor store half a century ago is still building, and still betting that Americans would rather walk through a door than click through a screen.