Bass Pro Billionaire Building Megastores With Taxpayers' Money

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) The Bass Pro Shops store in Rancho Cucamonga, California, is little more than an hour’s drive from Santa Monica, a West Coast enclave known for its anti-gun rallies and vegetarian cafes.

It might as well be on another planet. In this 180,000-square-foot, cathedral-like structure, shoppers can buy a Remington Varmint Rifle -- $569.99 with a $50 rebate -- grab a National Rifle Association flier by the door vilifying the state’s Senator Dianne Feinstein for her effort to ban assault weapons, or order a 12-ounce New York strip steak from the adjoining restaurant.

The architect of this shooter’s paradise is John “Johnny” Morris, a media-shy Missourian who became a billionaire stitching together shopping outlets for multiple outdoor sports and adding a touch of entertainment to the mix, often using local taxpayer funds to expand his empire.

“It had been a very fragmented market, with a lot of independent retail shops catering to firearms, hunting and fishing,” said Sean Naughton, a vice president and senior research analyst who covers the consumer sector for Minneapolis -based Piper Jaffray Cos. “All these categories that consumers like to do, but there wasn’t a national chain.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-03/bass-pro-billionaire-building-megastores-with-taxpayers.html

[patrice]

1. & Morris et al sit back and enjoy their profits from our TAXES as we ALSO PAY for the effects of

indiscriminate and ir-responsible concealed/SECRET gun-ownership at home and abroad in the world.

[Initech]

2. These creeps loot our treasury and they expect us to look the other way.

[canoeist52]

3. Read about BassPro and Cabella's getting subsidized in "Free Lunch" and "Perfectly Legal"

by David Cay Johnston a few years ago. I had to read in pieces and take breaks because it almost made me ill. I'm still fuming!
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/profile.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Cathedral-like... because it has um, walls?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2938941