Bass Pro Shops opens its newest Colorado store this week with a crystal mill, indoor trout stream and Broncos Super Bowl trophies

If you’ve ever wanted to stand inside a recreation of Colorado’s Crystal Mill while a 70-pound blue catfish swims beneath you and a mountain lion stalks a ponderosa pine overhead, this is your week.

Bass Pro Shops opens its sixth Colorado location Wednesday, July 22, with a 130,000-square-foot Outdoor World store in Loveland at 5945 Bass Pro Drive, just off I-25 and East Crossroads Boulevard — right next to Blue Arena in the “Brands at the Ranch” mixed-use development. The store has been under construction since December 2024, and Northern Colorado has been asking “when is it opening?” for roughly that entire time. The answer is Wednesday at 6 p.m., and the grand opening is not messing around.

Here’s everything happening for the grand opening celebration, starting with the centerpiece: The store features a three-dimensional recreation of Colorado’s iconic Crystal Mill rising above a 12,000-gallon aquarium housing more than 100 fish, including that 70-pound blue catfish. Water cascades from the mill into the aquarium and then flows through a 3,000-gallon trout stream that meanders through the store before looping back — creating the illusion of a mountain stream running indoors. Other displays include a mountain lion in a ponderosa pine, an aspen grove, an eagle’s nest, and buffalo and bighorn sheep displays that nod to CSU and CU mascots.

GRAND OPENING NIGHT — WEDNESDAY, JULY 22:

• 5 p.m. — Live concert from country singer-songwriter Celeste Kellogg
• 6 p.m. — Official ribbon-cutting ceremony and store opening
• Meet and greets with fishing and hunting celebrities, Denver Broncos Cheerleaders and Miles the Mascot (plus the Broncos’ three Super Bowl trophies on display) — available until 8 p.m.
• “Evening for Conservation” — 15% of nearly all merchandise sales opening night will be donated to a local conservation organization, continuing a tradition started by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris
• CLUB members get 10% off almost everything in-store July 22-26

GRAND OPENING WEEKEND — THURSDAY-SATURDAY, JULY 23-25:

• Daily door prizes for the first 200 families through the door each day
• Five-lane electronic archery range open for guests to try
• Store-exclusive Loveland Bass Pro Shops merchandise, including hats.

The store also features a full lineup of boats sold factory-direct — TRACKER, SUN TRACKER, RANGER, NITRO, REGENCY and TAHOE — plus an on-site POWER PROS service center for boats, motors and ATVs/UTVs.

For Denver listeners, Loveland is about an hour north on I-25.