<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> www.basspro.com </Td> </Tr> <P> BPS Direct LLC (doing business as Bass Pro Shops) is an American privately - held retailer of hunting, fishing, camping and related outdoor recreation merchandise, known for stocking a wide selection of gear . Bass Pro Shops supports and sells merchandise for the National Audubon Society . </P> <P> The majority owner, John Morris, began his career in sporting goods with a fishing section in the back of a Brown Derby liquor store owned by his father, located in Springfield MO on the road to Table Rock Lake and Branson, Missouri . That small fishing department sold homemade bait and worms, proving popular enough that Bass Pro Shops was incorporated in 1971 . These homemade baits were so popular that many people wanted the opportunity to buy these when they had returned home . Thus began the Bass Pro Shops catalog, first mailed in 1974 . Soon, it became the world's largest mail order sporting goods store . </P> <P> In 1975, to meet the burgeoning demand for Bass Pro Shops exclusive products, American Rod and Gun was established . Acting as a separate wholesaling entity ARG serves more than 7,000 independently owned retail stores worldwide . In 1977, Bass Pro Shops introduced the first fish - ready complete boat motor and trailer package with the Bass Tracker . In 1984, construction began on the Outdoor World Catalog Showroom in Springfield, Missouri . Big Cedar Lodge opened in 1988 on Table Rock Lake . </P>

Where was the first bass pro shop built