Do people have favorite in person tack stores? It seems like in the past 10-20 years, like other things, horse retail has largely moved online. Which is nice when you want to shop around for a size or color, price compare, etc. But I also love the experience of going into a huge tack store full of things I didn’t know I needed and shopping around. I’m lucky to have a few good tack stores nearby but I’m wondering if people have favorites that are destination-worthy.
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There used to be a huge multi-story tack store in Los Angeles, called Brokenhorn. It had feed, tack, books, clothing, you name it and they had it. It closed in 2021.
Mary’s Tack and Feed is in Del Mar, CA and is my next favorite store. Staff is absolutely lovely!
Physical stores are definitely struggling. Horse ownership is becoming more and more expensive, leading to a shrinking customer pool.
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The Tackeria, in Wellington.
Middleburg tack exchange, middleburg
The tack room, Camden
The farm house tack, landrum
Tack shack of Ocala
Olsons tack (Bellevue)
Those are also in order of most favorite to lesser favorite. All are worth a stop
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Aiken Saddlery. - Aiken, SC
The Tack Room - Camden, SC
Old Frontier Horse Emporium - Grovetown, GA
There are still a decent number here in SE PA, although a lot have also come and gone over the years. I used to know where dozens of stores were in PA, MD, and NJ and almost always stop somewhere when traveling. My most commonly visited/favorites now are Equine Exchange (it’s a huge store and they have both new and consignment items), Cross Road Tack (not quite as large as EE but also has new and consignment items) and Rick’s Heritage. They’ve all been around for a while and are well established.
Gallops Saddlery in Wilsonville, Oregon.
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The Tack Room in Camden is one I have shopped at for decades.
I’ve also got a few favorites overseas from a tiny shop stuffed to the brim with quality products in Verden (Sporthaus Verden) to the massive Emmers in Belgium.
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Nothing beats the smell of a tack shop. Well, maybe the smell of horses eating their hay. But you didn’t mention your favorite.
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The Mecca!!!
The Tack Shack in Ocala! They have so. much. stuff. I got to go shopping there right after I bought my horse down there and they had everything he needed and then some. My wallet was crying but I had a blast. 
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Green Valley Tack, Pine Island NY.
Owner is an experienced horsewoman who goes the extra mile to provide a personal shopping experience.
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Some of my favorites were the feed & seed stores in little towns out in the middle of nowhere. Sort of like Tractor Supply but friendlier and had saddles for sale as well as other tack and equipment.
IME they’re all pretty much alike, and all destination-worthy wherever they happen to be.
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When I first stepped into one with a purpose, after more than two decades without horses, I almost sobbed when that delicious smell hit me. It was the smell of happy childhood times and lifelong buddies and dreams and possibilities.
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Ah, such memories of both of these stores! Pretty much anything you needed could be found in those stores, whether you rode English or western, showed or trail rode. 
Sadly, there’s nothing in Arizona that compares to them. There are fabulous western tack and apparel stores (Ben’s in Wickenburg, for example) and a decently stocked English store outside Phoenix (Greenway). But nothing that compares to Broken Horn (RIP) or Mary’s.
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I miss the two we had in Portland: Glisan Street Saddlery and the one on Halsey that was part hardware store, part tack store that had the best consignment department! Both are gone now. For us in the PDX area, there really is only Gallops for English tack. We have Coastal, Wilco and Tractor Supply…but are they really ‘tack stores’?
My only complaint, besides the nearly hour long drive, about Gallops is they’ve basically removed any “affordable” tack and clothing choices. It’s all high end now. (and my eventer friends agree that much of their discipline tack is gone, too).
Another vote for Mary’s Tack & Feed in Del Mar. So many childhood memories and whenever I visit home I always stop in.
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Horse town north and south of Atlanta
Tack shack of Ocala
Tack stores in Aiken
Horse and kennel warehouse Jacksonville Fl
These are not in any particular order
Sidesaddle Tack Shop! That was my first “real” job after high school, and I worked there through the first few years of college. I absolutely adored it!
I love Gallops but have the same complaint. (I worked there, too, many many years ago!) They really do a spectacular pop-up shop at the big horse shows, though. So many interesting and cool little treasures. For small items like spur straps, they always have really fun options. I can’t hang with the higher-ticket items, though they are so beautiful!
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Color me Jelly of you who have decent tack stores. 
Here I have my “choice” of 1.
Heavily geared toward the WP crowd - which means 99.9% of their customers - & overpriced.
They do carry some English tack, but nothing I’d care to buy…& Again: pricy.
There used to be a little local guy who had a mobile home outfitted as a tack shop. Closed many years ago 
He didn’t have a huge inventory, but I always found little stuff I needed.
Recently friends took me to a huge 3-story resale & consignment place, some 45min drive away.
This guy has a crapload of tack, any & all disciplines & fair prices.
If I want new, I have to trek 1h+ to the Dover branch in Libertyville.
The other good tack stores in NW IL - Barrington Saddlery & Saddler’s Row - both closed some years ago.
Both were pricy, but fun field trips, whether or not I was buying.
Whoever mentioned the smell 
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