What would you stock YOUR Tack Store with??

[Lv2rid3]

I thought this would be fun! Hopefully hasn’t been done recently!

Anyway, I know a lot of us have dreamed of owning our own tack store, and if you DID, what would you carry?? What brands, type of tack, etc. Would you have clothes and boots too??

I’m currently dreaming HARD about starting one in my town. We have NO tack stores within a hour, and those are strictly small english shops. So my list has been being fleshed out pretty good :lol:

Okay:

I would carry English and Western saddles and tack. Supplements, treats. Both types of saddle pads. Horse blankets, buckets, stable/trailer supplies.
I’d have lots of stock from Schneiders, Ariat, and JPC (henri de rivel, Equine Couture, etc) and more I haven’t thought of! Def a few spendy brands like Devoucoux and Toulouse, CWD.
Also lots of show clothes and schooling clothes. Boots, helmets.

Western, lots of Ariat of course, Twisted X, Wrangler, Cinch. Circle Y, Billy Royal.

I also have my own Etsy business already, so it would be so FUN to include a section just for Etsy sellers! Stuff like stock ties, belts, soaps, candles, saddle pads etc.

What about yall?

[clanter]

piles of cash in the backroom to endure the slow periods would be my foremost inventory

All of the successful large tack stores around here started as small backroom enterprises mainly to support their own needs, overtime they kept adding products, acquired other resellers to wholesale to that allowed them to expand the product lines… and each had an owner who had a memory like an elephant, one I can recall where we were there every so often always asked about our Morgan horses… as though we were regular every day high valued clients

[mvp]

OP, do I have to make money or can I School People In The Way Of The Show Barn and sell them the matchy-match accoutrement that no one but me knows they need?

[Lv2rid3]

@mvp

OP, do I have to make money or can I School People In The Way Of The Show Barn and sell them the matchy-match accoutrement that no one but me knows they need?

:lol: You do you girl!!

[Kinda_Kooky]

My tack shop would have a private cocktail lounge in the back, to encourage my tolerance for the potential customers.

I would call it " Fly on the Wall Tack", presumably I would get much more gossip than business.

[poltroon]

I would make it have a gathering place so that people would come there just for fun without a particular mission to buy tack. Then I’d schedule educational lectures and parties and the like.

And I’d carry the full Breyer line with all the fun accessories.

[soloudinhere]

@Kinda Kooky

My tack shop would have a private cocktail lounge in the back, to encourage my tolerance for the potential customers.

I would call it " Fly on the Wall Tack", presumably I would get much more gossip than business.

Our local bookstore and bike store both have bars now. The bookstore calls it “Get Lit” and the bike store is “The Handlebar.”

[Scribbler]

Around here all the quality English saddles are sold new by reps or bought second hand. None of the tack shops stock any brand of English saddle I would consider.

But perhaps you could strike a deal with one or more of the local reps to use your store as a base of operations and maybe have a demo saddle on display?

At this point, more than a dozen years after returning to riding and almost ten years of having a full time horse, I just don’t need that much stuff. I will buy a specific pad or girth to problem solve. I will buy barn supplies and medication as needed. I will nose around consignment stores. And obviously I’m buying my fair share of hay, feed, supplements, salt blocks, etc. But I am not a very good tack store customer anymore, and I suspect lots of established horse owners also are not.

I think having a strong online presence and willingness to do special orders is important. I recently bought a very specific saddle pad through a local tack shop that actually then mailed it to me free of charge.

There are various things I’d enjoy seeing in person (like the Haas brushes everyone raves about) but might or not actually buy after I saw them.

So possibly most tack and stable supply purchases are made by newer riders or horse owners.

[tikihorse2]

Carry plus-size riding clothes, including show clothes! Not all of us are size zero. And for God’s sake, don’t treat us like freaks when we come in to buy those clothes. Some of us ride just as well if not better than the so-called average size people.

Maybe try to purchase stuff you know you can sell a lot of, like fly spray, in quantity, so you can price it competitively with the online sellers and big box stores? I’d rather keep the local tack shops in business. Same with things like leather conditioners, glycerine soap, horse shampoo, shine spray, etc.

One local tack shop, now sadly demised, had ladies’ nights with wine, coffee, soda, snacks, and prize drawings. I realize this is prohibited with COVID, but it was a lot of fun and drew in crowds.

Another local tack shop, which is also long gone, would do special orders and mail them to the barn. THAT was truly nice. I loved that tack shop and I miss it so much.

[Ceffyl_Dwr]

Aisling Equestrian and vintage, high waisted breeches.

[Lv2rid3]

Some VERY good answers!!

Yeah hubby and I have pretty much dropped the dream. Sadly it just seems the local tack store is gone and not likely to come back unless your in a big city.

I’m tossing around the idea of a mobile tack trailer now. Go to shows/events, also big barns. I work at a mechanic shop and got the idea from the tool trucks

[pluvinel]

@Lv2rid3

Some VERY good answers!!

Yeah hubby and I have pretty much dropped the dream. Sadly it just seems the local tack store is gone and not likely to come back unless your in a big city.

I’m tossing around the idea of a mobile tack trailer now. Go to shows/events, also big barns. I work at a mechanic shop and got the idea from the tool trucks

If you want a reality check, talk to John Nunn…formerly of Bit of Britain Tack. He sold his store. Apparently bricks and mortar can’t compete with on-line.

I am familiar with the Snap-On Tools trucks…friend has a truck. I don’t know how they make money, unless Snap-On won’t sell on line.

[pony_grandma]

In a pipe dream - consignment equestrian art and antiques. I have a collection that would sell fast.

[lenapesadie]

There are two tack stores in my area. The one that has been in business the longest has a mobile tack store. Very similar to the Snap On truck idea! She goes to local shows and many, myself included, were delighted to purchase a forgotten / broken item from her along with a few extras! Additionally, she also runs a boarding barn. Her boarders are delighted to purchase as much as possible from her. I know I would, talk about convenience!

[SonnysMom]

We have 2 tack stores in the area. Very different models.

A- English only. Has a large new saddle room and a few used saddle rooms with both jump/AP and dressage. The rest of the store is new. I think it is more geared towards showing. IMO the staff can be a bit arrogant.

B- New English, New Western and consignment for both. No new saddles. Very limited consignment on used saddles mostly English. Only zip up tall boots on consignment (pull on doesn’t sell). They have a specialty feed available that is not available anywhere else local. Pellets and some shavings. Shavings mostly by the pallet. They do embroidery on site. They have consignment gifts such as hand painted wine glasses with foxes and horses. The do the Myler bit rental program. They also have a section of dog treats, dog coats, dog beds etc…

Both stores have the basics: fly sprays, tack cleaning, ointments, first aid, bits, bell boots, leg boots, fly masks, Breyer horses, saddle pads, other basic new tack.

[SonnysMom]

@pluvinel

If you want a reality check, talk to John Nunn…formerly of Bit of Britain Tack. He sold his store. Apparently bricks and mortar can’t compete with on-line.

I am familiar with the Snap-On Tools trucks…friend has a truck. I don’t know how they make money, unless Snap-On won’t sell on line.

I am sort of local to where Bit of Britain/John Nunn was. I am about an hour away. He was just not in a good location IMO. I made it to his store once or maybe twice a year, mostly during sales or if I needed a Nunn Finer brand. It was not the most convenient location. I did not find the hours to be convenient. It was very much off the beaten path. Yes Amish buggies would routinely drive past his store. So pretty rural.

I think that it was also very much marketed and perceived as Eventing. We have have a large hunter population but I don’t think they did a good job of attracting that market to that store. There are other brick and mortar stores at the other end of the county. One of them has a store at Devon Horse Show and therefore would be perceived as a hunter/jumper store. The other one has English/Western and Consignment and would be much more neutral.

I am an all around rider: some LL eventing, trail riding, non-jumping foxhunting. But I have boarded and trained at barns that do rated hunter and dressage shows. None of the people that I know from the rated shows or even schooling hunter or dressage shows shopped at Bit of Britain. It was not on their radar. The foxhunter were more likely to got to Bartsville Tack than Bit of Britain.

Don’t get me wrong we have a good amount of eventers in this area but when you slant your marketing toward the eventers and towards the area that is more eventers rather than include hunters and straight dressage you have limited your market. John Nunn/Bit of Britain is very heavily associated with eventing not so much with dressage or hunter/jumpers.

His store had a very warehouse feel to it. I do not remember any saddles, any tall boots, any paddock boots, or helmets being available. If they had them it was a very small selection because I didn’t see them. The staff tended towards a very hands off approach not a full service approach. Don’t get me wrong the staff was knowledgeable but you needed to approach them. They didn’t tend to be outgoing and greet the customer with something as basic as “Let me know if I can help you with anything”. You could walk around the store for an amazing amount of time without seeing a staff member unless you went to the desk in the middle of the store. No you did not need to walk past a customer service area to get into the main store. This type of store is set up to cater to the DIY eventer that knows what they want.

Don’t get me wrong I own 3 Nunn Finer dressage bridles and 1 Nunn Finer figure 8 bridle. I have purchased a few bits and a few saddle pads from them. I like his tack.

[ASB_Stars]

One of our local tack shops used to send a van around that was stocked with most of the daily needs of a barn, to all of the local stables of any size. It was really convenient, and you could order anything that you needed, and they would bring it back the next week.

There was also a guy with a camper on his pick up truck that went around to local horse shows. He seemed to do alright, and had things that were useful at the show, and some more boutique items.

Obviously, they incur the cost of being on the road, but it seemed that both did well enough to continue for a long time.

[dani0303]

I would start a plus size tack and clothing empire. Something along the lines of Torrid but for equestrians. Fuller Fillies tried to do it but seems to have had a bad business model

[Lv2rid3]

Thank yall SO much for all the input. I really appreciate it.

A lot of what you were saying was customer service. That is SO HUGE. I hate walking into a store and having to FIND someone to help me, or feel like I’m being looked down upon or not worth their time. That would NEVER happen in my store.
I love the idea of the tack van going around to different barns, the same idea has occurred to me!
Sonnys Mom, thank you for all your info and input, it was very helpful!

[soloudinhere]

Id purposefully stock with everything but the ERS suite if brands that all the drop shippers carry.

Maybe have my own line, but definitely take a more european approach to brand stocking. I can get ovation, dublin, etc anywhere and not much of it is worth buying…so I’d be really careful to curate nice things from better brands like HKM, QHP, Equitheme, etc.