Toby Sells
Santa Claus announces Thursday that 2 million have visited Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid.
Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid welcomed its 2 millionth visitor Monday, less than eight months since it opened on April 29.
Store officials, Santa Claus, and television angler Bill Dance made the announcement at the Downtown store and hotel Thursday. The milestone exceeds projections as Bass Pro officials said the venue would draw between 1 million-2 million in a full calendar year.
Toby Sells
Bill Dance at Bass Pro on Thursday.
Dance recalled that when Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris asked him if Memphis could support a store, Dance originally told him no. But he said people are coming from miles away to visit the store, noting that Thursday morning alone he’d talked to visitors from New Orleans and Birmingham.
Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau president Kevin Kane said the project is a “victory” for Memphis and echoed Dance’s sentiment that tourists are, indeed, coming to Memphis solely to visit Bass Pro.
Claus said the figure put Memphis on his nice list this year.
