W&E; Today provides retailers and manufacturers with education and ideas that provoke innovation in the Western and English markets.
Issue link: http://wetoday.epubxp.com/i/235944
Othell Welch, center, fanked by brother Tillmin, left, who is the company's operation manager, and brother Bill, right, the former movie stuntman who frst spirited a young Othell of to Mexico for his frst pair of cowboy boots. weren't happy with their careers in Arizona and wanted to return to their hometown of Edinburg, a small town near McAllen in South Texas, and start a family business. Friends had been nagging Othell about starting a Western boot company in the Valley; plus, he had contacts in Leon — so Corral Boots opened in 1999. And it defnitely was — and remains — a family business. "In all reality," says Othell, "this company never would have grown to the point it has without George and Heather taking such great care of the day-to-day business from Edinburg. Heather handles social media/marketing, while George, as general manager, runs the operations on the U.S. side. I give them a lot of credit for our success." Othell's other brother, Tillmin G. Welch, serves as operations manager. Even big brother Bill has a hand in the business. Te company logo, a scene inspired by the movie Gunfght at the O.K. Corral (Bill did stunt work on that movie), represents the three brothers and their dad. Tat family thinking goes beyond the Welch clan. In 2006, Othell sold half his business to his friends in Mexico, Hector and Francisco Cuadra, who helped get the company going in Mexico. And then there are the stores that carry Corral boots. "We treat our retailers like family because they are part of it," Welch says. "Te small, mom-andpop [businesses] hold a real dear spot in our hearts because they are the ones who got us to where we are today. It's like any business. Major chains do not go to a brand new company and start buying product — then see what's going to happen on the market, what the scuttlebutt is, how they're handling delivery, all of that. Small stores put you on the map. Tey do mean a lot to us." Randy Markel, owner of Chuck's Boots — two 25,000-square-foot stores in the St. Louis area that carry roughly 80,000 to 90,000 boots — says Corral has experienced immense success in a relatively short period of time. "In the past four or fve years, they've come out of nowhere to where now I would say they are the premier line of women's boots on the market," Markel says. "Now all the other brands seem to copy Corral … which is the ultimate compliment." Yet, success did not come overnight. "When I frst started making boots, we started with men's boots, making the same thing everyone else was making at the time — caiman and full-quill ostrich," Othell says. "We tried to sell that to the stores and weren't having a lot of success because they already had it from diferent vendors and didn't need it from me. So I started looking at what they didn't have, and what they didn't have was a good selection of ladies' boots." Corral Boots began producing not just ladies' Western boots, but also fashion boots. Te results have been extraordinary. Beginning in 2003, business has been doubling each year. Today, Corral Boots employs more than 500 people "We treat our retailers like family because they are part of it," Welch says. JANUARY 2014 55