A sneak peek inside the new Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow

The long-awaited Bass Pro Shops in Broken Arrow is just a week away from opening. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says it wasn't long ago that the area where the store now stands was just

Thursday, October 13th 2005, 10:50 am

By: News On 6

The long-awaited Bass Pro Shops in Broken Arrow is just a week away from opening.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says it wasn't long ago that the area where the store now stands was just an open field. Now they're about to open their doors and wait till you see what's inside.

They call it outdoor world and they bring the outdoors indoors or make the indoors look like the outdoors. However you want to look at it, it's big. This is just how founder Johnny Morris likes it.

Bass Pro Shopsâ€™ Bill Rice: "He likes open, he likes the outdoors, the outdoor feel of the building, and they build it to scale.â€

And that keeps everyone busy. "Busy is an understatement." Donna Self says most of the inside detail work was done in just the past 5 weeks. â€œWhen I walked in the door, all we had was fixtures sitting, with no pegs, no product, no anything."

Bill Rice "Don't have anybody standing around wondering what to do, they know what to do and they're after it. 200 people working as hard as they can go, itâ€™s an anthill." The size of the place can make one feel a little small. With some 100 animal displays, you can find something new wherever you look.

In keeping with the big theme, this 3-story waterfall empties into a 17,000 square foot aquarium, which, when they open, will be fully stocked with fish. The displays, both live and stuffed, will be species that are typical of Oklahoma.

Bass Pro officials say Mr. Morris is a stickler for details; in fact, one section of the store he wasn't satisfied with will be completely redone. Bill Rice: "We're gonna relocate some ceilings and make them higher, lower some chandeliers tear some offices out completely and relocate them. He's done this a long time and pretty successful at what he's doing so."

They say those last-minute changes will not delay the opening, which is scheduled for next Wednesday.