Happy Trails Reaching End of the Line

Business
By Bill Walsh
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 2009

By Bill Walsh

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Al Stewart grew up on a farm in Manitoba, Canada, and he knows a fair share about cowboying. The easy assumption is that that background and knowledge led to Happy Trails, a western wear shop in Bealeton Village Center.

That assumption would be wrong.

The economy is getting tighter than last year's jeans, and it is easy to assume that Happy Trails' riding off into the sunset is a reflection of the ongoing malaise.

That would be wrong, too.

"We've been able to pay the bills and keep the lights on," Stewart says of the shop he has owned and run with his wife Mary Ann for 22 years, 12 here and 10 more in the original location in Pennsylvania. "But it's just time to retire.

"We're not getting any younger, and our grandkids are getting older," he said.

Happy Trails will close for good at the end of March.

Happy Trails is open seven days a week, and the schedule is taking its toll, said Stewart, who is anticipating his second retirement — his first came from the information systems arm of publisher McGraw-Hill in 1987.

"We're a mom-and-pop shop, so either mom or pop has to be here seven days a week, and we're open until 8 o'clock weekdays," Stewart noted. "We'd like to spend some more time together."

Spending a lot of time together got the Stewarts in the western wear business in the first place. Twenty-five or so years ago would have found the couple out on the dance floor five or six nights a week.

"The United Country Western Dance Council has competitions all over the country," Al said, "and we'd do six or seven a year," not only for the dancing, but also for the opportunity "to load up the van, set up a booth and sell."

Her husband was an outstanding teacher, Mary Ann said.

"If you trace back who taught whom in the mid-Atlantic area, he's back there, great-grandpa, great-great grandpa," she said. "He was in that chain of who taught whom, and it really got our business going."

"That whole dance world changed right after we moved down here," Al mused. "There used to be a dozen places around D.C. to dance; they are all gone.

"The competitions were huge at the time. You'd have to book your hotel room a year in advance for some of these things. We quit doing them six or eight years ago when it just sort of petered out."

Worse, the tradition is not being carried on, not in country dancing, not in square dancing. "We get square dancers in here, and they are mainly from the adult communities, the retirement communities," Stewart said. "They have no one coming along to keep it going."

Deals abound at the Bealeton shop as the business winds down. Get 20 percent off your first item, 30 off your second, 20 off your third, 30 percent off your fourth. Buy that fourth item and get a fifth purchase free.

The Stewarts are eager to empty the shop of inventory by the expiration of their lease on March 31. More than just clearing the shelves, they would rather someone come in and buy the business, lock, stock and barrel.

There are any number of attractions to the purchase, Al noted, including a competitor-free zone that stretches from Fredericksburg and Culpeper on one end, to Springfield, Winchester and Manassas on others.

And it's likely that none of the competing shops matches the Happy Trails gamut — complete western outfitting, from boots to hats, for the whole family. Most of the competitors focus on boots.

Western boots are the main draw. "A western pull-on work boot from Double-H is the biggest seller," Al noted. "By far."

Happy Trails has catered to working men and women and does not typically carry expensive footwear made from exotic leathers. They can find and order them, however.

Coupled with being relatively competition free, the Stewarts sent coupons to everyone on their "frequent buyer" list in October. That was more than 3,500 letters. There are more than 6,500 names on the mailing list of buyers who have visited the store over the last several years.

There have been some inquiries about buying the whole business, none particularly serious.

"The people have been great," Mary Ann said of the store, and its impending close. "We've had customers just come in to say hello, goodbye, we're sorry to see you go. They made a special point to stop in just to say goodbye, which is kind of neat."

Happy Trails is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call (540) 439-1395 or visit their Web site, www.happytrailswesternwear.com, for more information.

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