For Johnny Morris it pays to sell
branded fishing rods, hunting apparel and even outdoors-themed
brick-a-bac.
Morris – the founder of the
ever-enlarging Bass Pro Shops - is one of the 20 newest members of
Forbes' richest 400.
To make the list one must be worth at
least $1 billion; typically much, much more.
And Morris easily makes the list.
Forbes says Morris is now worth $4
billion. Yep, that's with a “B,” not an “M.”
Morris ranks 110th on the
list, just behind Hollywood's George Lucas with his $4.2 billion but
ahead of Cleveland Cavilers' owner Dan Gilbert and his $3.9 billion.
To get his billions and billions the
65-year-old Morris began small by opening a fishing section in back
of his father's Missouri liquor store.
Over time that over time Morris built
the still-privately owned business into an empire that today includes
50 stores peppered across much of the country along with 19 marine
dealerships that sell Bass Pro Shops' branded Bass Tracker boats and
such like.
Bass Pro has two stores in Ohio: One
near Toledo and another near Cincinnati.
Nor is this empire stagnant, either.
Like a veritable economic Genghis Khan that swept across the steppes
of Asia and into Europe, Morris is set to open 20 new retail outlets
with the latest installment coming in recent days in Palm Bay,
Florida.
Yet Morris is not the only merchant of
outdoor merchandise to appear on Forbes' list. Well, sort of anyway.
There is Edward Stack whose $1.15
billion has come about by building upon his late father's small bait
shop into the 500-store outdoors/sports retailer giant, Dick's
Sporting Goods.
Stack is mentioned in the Forbes'
featured story but under its “not quite made it” listing.
No word on where the Cabela's brothers
Dick and Jim stand but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts neither of them
need to apply for food stamps.
Though the brothers retain 25-percent
ownership in the business they founded Cabela's today is a publicly
traded entity.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
No comments:
Post a Comment