PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2023

MOM AND POP

PASSION, PERSONAL SERVICE, PLENTY OF BAIT Presley’s Outdoors is still worming its way into the hearts of sportsmen and women

BY STEVE TARTER PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

A local retail business not only fending off the corporate competition but succeeding? It’s enough to renew your faith in good old-fashioned personal service.

old store on South Adams Street was running out of room. The Presley family left the ranch to open a new, larger store in 2004 with a new name, Presley’s Outdoors, taking over a deserted supermarket in Bartonville. But they weren’t the only ones seeking to capture a larger share of the area’s outdoor sports market. Not only had national chains like Dick’s, Dunham’s and Gander Mountain set up shop in Peoria but an even larger adversary was on the horizon. By 2011, Bass Pro Shops, a national company billed as North America’s premier outdoor company, had opened a 150,000 square-foot store in East Peoria, dwarfing the 35,000 square foot Presley store. “Bass Pro clearly spends a massive amount of money in marketing,” said Kelly Presley, 42, who represents the third generation to run Presley’s. “Bass Pro has gorgeous stores. Their stores are definitely prettier than ours,

‘IT WAS ALWAYS SUCH A FAMILY PLACE AND IT’S REMAINED THAT’ — Jeff Lampe

That’s not some fanciful movie prem ise but the story of Presley’s Outdoors, 1510 W. Garfield Ave. in Bartonville, a seller of hunting and fishing gear that started out in Peoria as the South Side Worm Ranch. Bob Presley and wife Dorothy (known to most as “Red”) started the bait shop in 1946, establishing a lasting reputation as the fisherman’s friend. Tim Presley, their son, will tell you that the store’s original name wasn’t just for show: A lot of worms were involved. As a kid, Tim once collected

more than 1,400 worms in an hour, he recalled. In his early 20s, he often slept at the store, he said. In 1979 it was Tim Presley’s turn to take over the business. Bob had died in 1976 and Red was losing interest in running things, he said. As Tim grew the business, it became clear that the

24 MAY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE