Bass Pro Shops — Local services in Palm Bay

I came to the store with my lady about 2 weeks ago looking for a more fitting firearm for her. Months before we even decided to go buy firearm for her, we talked about the caliber of weapon that she should get and also the size of weapon. We had a pretty good idea of what weapon we were looking for, and we were ready to purchase one that day. We waited at the Firearms counter waiting on a salesperson for a considerable amount of time and being passed by multiple Associates before my lady found a piece of paper sitting on the counter that says that we have to scan a QR code in order to get help. After scanning the code, an associate came to assist us. We saw the weapon that we were looking for and asked to see it. Within a few seconds of presenting the weapon, the sales associate immediately went for a bigger weapon in a bigger caliber that no doubt cost more and handed it to my girl The salesman was pretty good at first. He almost had my lady convinced to get a much bigger pistol. I squashed that deal. I'm not 100% sure if the Firearms sales people make a commission off the weapons they sell, but the way this guy was acting, it seemed like he would make quite the commission. Maybe they should get some salespeople in there that understand practicality. Before we went into this store, my lady and I had agreed that a single stack, six shot, semi-automatic 380 pistol would be perfect for the application that we were intending it for. "Concealment" is the key word here. This jackass salesperson tried to up-sell my girl a big, bulky, 15-shot 9mm that even I would have found uncomfortable to conceal all day. I like to give credit where credit is due though, so I would like to add that the salesperson was knowledgeable about the weapons that he was selling. It's my opinion that not only should the store maybe make sure that the salesman can shoot the weapons that he's selling, but maybe they should also train them more on practicality and application of weapons. Maybe they should also get some sales "women" to sell exclusively to women as I believe a woman would probably understand more of a woman's needs as it relates to self-defense. Instead, we got a young salesman who thinks he's Chris Kyle standing behind the counter ready to up-sell my lady and arm her like she's going to clear houses when literally if he had been listening, he would have found out that we were just looking for a small caliber pistol that she can keep on her person while she sits at her desk. Like I said, I squashed the deal, and we walked out of the store without purchasing a pistol at all. If I was selling vehicles, I wouldn't sell a lady a big, diesel, dually pickup truck when all she needs is a small vehicle to make runs delivering her...

Have had three very poor experiences at this location, back to back. The first experience was calling the store during December to see if a particular item was in stock. I understand that it was a busy time of year with the holidays, but the woman who answered had a terrible attitude and also put me on hold for so long that I just hung up the phone after waiting for so long. I ended up purchasing online the item that I was calling about (a compound bow for one of my husband’s Christmas gifts). A few weeks later, my husband and I came in with the bow that I bought him to visit the archery desk/department. The man who was working the counter didn’t hide the fact that he was annoyed and wasn’t very eager to help us. I believe his name was Richard or Robert. Older gentleman. The whole time he was rude to my husband about his questions he was asking about the specifics of the bow. My husband even left the man a tip since he serviced the bow. Several months later, we come back to visit the archery department again. The people up front at the checkout counter had some attitude when my husband wanted to bring his bow into the store even though the archery department was closed for the remainder of the day. After they checked the bow in, we were browsing the aisles at the archery department when a customer walked up to the desk, and was trying to ask the employee a question… as the customer was trying to find the exact words for his question the employee said to the man to “Do you have a question…? Spit it out”. We were appalled to hear that the employee spoke to a customer like that. We ended up leaving the store and driving back home 40 minutes away. SO MANY bad attitudes and rude behavior here. We will no longer be taking our business to any of the Bass Pro...

I do enjoy shopping at this place. The gators, the hogs and fish never cease to amaze and amuse my too citified granddaughter 😭. The gentleman in the fly rod dept. really knows his stuff, as he restored an inherited old Eagle Claw "White Eagle" from my late favorite uncle. 👍👍👍They are not paying this guy enough, I fear. A valuable asset to the management to be sure, as his services are a lost art.

The prices here are a bit higher than nearby Academy Sports and of course Wal-Mart. They do try to compensate for that by the rewards program. But still higher.

The store has gone through some lean times now and then. One old-timer in the firearms section is gone. Sad, as he and I could chat endlessly and agreed on the proper choke for an all-around shotgun (modified!) and best all-around bullet for the venerable. 30-30 Winchester (W/W brand 150 grain jacketed HP). Two young gals were sadly terminated in budget cuts: one, Lindsay sold me two pairs of Redhead boots at one sitting, and the other (name sadly forgotten) from Washington state, sold me my kayak.

All in all, a very good store! I wish them continued success.

Edit 112318: returned today before 5am for the Black Friday sales. I made the mistake of buying the discounted ammo. Mistake? The real discount comes by way of a convoluted rebate system that involves email and US mail. A lot of work. Why not just a straight out discount without the time wasting...