HARLINGEN — Call it the battle of the outdoors titans.
Academy Sports and Outdoors is moving in on Bass Pro Shops’ territory, with new plans for a Harlingen store just under a mile west of the current Bass Pro location.
For years, Academy, with stores in Weslaco and Brownsville, ceded the Harlingen outdoors market to Bass Pro.
But a $6.5 million project aims to change that by unleashing direct competition, rod-to-rod and gun-to-gun, with Bass Pro.
The site of the new, 58,000-square-foot store will be on the north side of I-2/West Expressway 83 between Chester Park Road and Lewis Lane.
That’s if the project goes through.
Academy executives on Monday filed their plan for the store with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, a legal requirement and one of the first steps in the construction process.
But it doesn’t always mean a project comes together and becomes reality.
Academy’s closest stores are in Brownsville and Weslaco. It operates other locations in McAllen, Pharr and Edinburg.
Unlike Bass Pro, which focuses on hunting, fishing and camping gear, Academy also stocks a broad range of sports equipment for boxing, tennis, golf, baseball, football, workouts, running and more.
According to the TDLR filing, construction is to begin next month and be completed by Sept. 1.
Last month, Academy opened its fourth location in Indiana in Lafayette.
“Academy plans to continue its expansion efforts with the goal of opening a total of 80 to 100 new stores by the end of 2026,” the company said in a press release then.
Based in Katy, Texas, Academy has about 270 stores nationwide.
Neither Academy nor city officials responded to calls and emails Tuesday seeking comment.
