Who does the ordering for Sporting Goods Stores?

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend that just went to Bass Pro Shops. He went for about five different things, but only walked out of there with two. Have you ever been to BPS? The store is immense. It is two stories. Almost the entire downstairs is filled with fishing gear. How is it even possible that they do not carry what an angler could want?

Unfortunately, my friend is absolutely right. I have put a list together of things I needed (restocking my lost gear, not things I wanted on a whim). I'll be lucky to walk out of there with half the stuff. How is this possible? First off, as the name implies, it caters to bass fishing, specifically largemouth bass. There is no doubt that if you can't catch fish with what they carry, then you suck as a largemouth fisherman.

However, largemouth are not the most important fish in the northeast. For freshwater, trout rival the bass but truthfully the seven lined bass rule New England. Yes, stripers. BPS carries four or five aisles of saltwater gear. However, it is not the right stuff. This leads me to believe whoever orders their gear is not a local, maybe not even a fisherman. Examples? My friend went in for Daiwa Salt Pro Minnows. This is by far the hottest plug out there. He could not find it in the best fish catching color (white). They do not carry Rebel Jumpin Minnoows. Again, this plug is super effective. An example I thought of was the Sebile swimmer. They have a bunch in non-fish catching colors such as gold. Almost every angler at the Cape Cod Canal has a Sebile in silver, they didn't get it from BPS. There are many other things I really could write, but I must move on.

I'm not trying to bash Bass Pro, I go there as little as possible because they sponsor bow fishing tournaments. Other retail stores are just s bad. Cabelas in Berlin, is worse. The store is less than half the size of Bass Pro. I can never find any gear I want there and usually end up buying it online. You would think Cabelas would carry Cabelas gear. Not completely so. I wanted to buy some Cabelas saltwater jig heads one day. They don't even carry them because of space limitations.

Walmart is even worse. Of course I don't expect an aisle or two to compare to a outdoor store. However, it would be nice if they carried "the right gear" Look at there section on spinners. Would you buy any of their Roostertails. They have the least effective colors I have ever seen. I can only assume they order them based on how pretty they are.

Lastly, look at how much gear we have to buy online because sporting goods stores do not even carry it. As my friend said, "Why doesn't Bass Pro carry treble hooks and hardware?" It's true, you can't buy any replacement trebles, screw eyes, or split rings there or anywhere but online. The hottest soft plastic bait for saltwater are Cocahoes. Other than Quaker Lane good luck finding them at your local tackle shop (Buy them direct from H&H Lures, Queen cocahoes are the 4 inch ones).

I have not run out of examples, I could go on (bucktail jigs, saltwater jigheads, carp gear)
Seriously, who does the ordering for these places?