My name is Robert and I live in Kingsport. I have a very good friend who has been considering opening his own business for a long time now. He has looked into several deferent ventures trying to come up with the right idea. For the last year we have talked about doing something together and are now starting to get some local feedback before we take things to another level.

What we are considering doing is opening a large outdoors shop here in the Tri-Cities. I know that Bass Pro is now just an hour away but we both feel like this area is prime for a good outdoor shop. We want to focus on fishing and hunting and offer an above average selection. I myself have surfed the internet asking any and all bait/tackle companies from the big boys to the little spare time basement bait makers on getting the rights to sale their products and was very surprised at the response I got. We would be able to offer tackle at a local store that yes you could get online but this way you could hold it and even try it in a tank. (no fish) but you could see how it looked under water. We are a long ways away from breaking ground yet and we are trying our best to get feedback from local outdoorsmen to find out what THEY want. So here is my questions. What do you think about a larger local fish/hunting company opening up and where would be the best place to put it?
Would they use it or would they still drive to BPS or use online ordering? What would be the most important thing for this company to offer? I would LOVE to hear any and all feedback that you can get.