Amarillo Nostalgia: Boots 'n Jeans an Iconic Western Store

As times change, so do iconic stores that people remember with fondness.

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Barnes Jewelry is a store that has been a part of Amarillo for over 67 years and is finally closing its doors. Hastings was the place to go for entertainment or kill some time on a weekend. They closed in 2016

Then we have Boots 'n Jeans

Boots 'n Jeans was the place in Amarillo to get the perfect pair of boots, the most perfectly shaped Stetson, or that pair of Wrangler jeans. It was the store to shop for local cowboys and wannabe cowboys.

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The over 30,000 square foot building at the time was iconic with the big Boots 'n Jeans sign and the giant horse statue on the top of the building. The statement of the horse on its back legs was enough to make you want to stop every time you drove down Georgia.

Then when you walked into the front door of the store the smell of country hit you. That leather smell mixed with denim and a hint of steam. Sometimes you would just go into the store to walk around and take in the smells.

The memories of this store were rich. According to an article in Texas Highways, Volume 65, Number 2, February 2018 Page: 34, the writer shared his memories of the store.

So when I think of my Amarillo childhood, I think about Boots'n Jeans. Not the attire, but the retail store. The rustic wooden doors of Boots'n Jeans once beckoned anyway you like: "Amarillo sheds its Western heritage" or "Progress replaces boots with brunch simple. Amarillo's Western history is too entrenched to be yanked off like a dusty pair of Tony Lamas of the Texas Panhandle. Before long, Amarillo had become the largest cattle-shipping station in the country

Boots 'n Jeans was owned by Ernest Walker and was purchased in 1995 by Shelplers. Sheplers was then purchased by Boot Barn and the store closed in 2015. The property was remodeled and cut into multiple spaces for multiple stores and the iconic horse was removed from the top of the building. That has to be the saddest part of the store closing.

An opinion article written Farm Journal Ag Web from 2010, had the perfect sentiment of what Boots N Jeans was:

I used to live in Amarillo, Texas, in the late 1980s, and man, did I like to go to Boots and Jeans, the best western wear store in town. I bought lots of shirts and one pair of top-of-the-line Tony Lama boots there in 1989. On my last trip to Amarillo in May, my wife and I decided to make a trip to Boots and Jeans. Boy, was I disappointed. Boots and Jeans, the quality western wear store I remember, has been replaced with a Shepler’s store...

Even with the original Boots 'n Jeans morphing into a Shelpler-owned store, it was a loss felt when the doors closed for the last time.

It was the end of an era.

Now the longest locally owned western store still in Amarillo is West Texas Western Store, they have a store in the mall and one in Canyon.

Cavender's Boot City has the massiveness of the former Boots 'n Jeans, and of course, Boot Barn is all there for the boots and jeans.

MASSIVE: Incredible Photos of the Historic 6666 Ranch

The sprawling 6666 Ranch is one of Texas' crown jewels. Established in 1870, the legendary Samuel Burk Burnett built himself an empire of cattle and Quarter Horses.

You can imagine the shock that rippled across Texas when the historic ranch that is twice the size of Chicago was listed for sale.

And it was certainly double the shock when the news came about that Taylor Sheridan, the director of the smash hit show "Yellowstone" was the winning buyer.

There's much to the story of 6666 Ranch and so little time to tell it, but first: just look at the incredible photos of this sprawling piece of Texan paradise.

Images taken from Chas M Middleton & Son YouTube

Gallery Credit: Sarah Clark