MJL
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 144
- Location
- Homestead, Florida USA
I really love the Stetson Temple that I have been wearing since 2005 but it has seen better days and needs to be rebuilt so it has not been worn in awhile pending a replacement. I have wanted to visit the Stetson store, in St Joseph, MO for some time but never found myself in the area. This summer my wife and I were awarded National Endowment for the Humanities institutes that brought us north and my daughter asked to revisit Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks so I saw my opportunity.
We started the day in Kansas City raiding the bargain cave at Cabela's, we lunched at Arthur Bryant's and headed north toward Mitchell, South Dakota in an early July rain storm. As we approached St Joseph, knowing time was short I swung by the Stetson store for a quick look as my wife and daughter waited in the car (in)patiently.
The Stetson outlet is in an industrial area of town in what appears to be a non-descript concrete building that appears to be a factory building. The employees later said it was a Stetson factory that shut down the production side but retained the outlet shop. The stock is mostly cowboy hats and clothes. The fedora were all on one wall with perhaps 75 fedora out. I have a tough hat size to fit, some where between 7 3/4 and 7 7/8 so I did not really think I would end up buying much. As it turns out my hat size seems to have shrunk down to a proper 7 3/4 so I was in better luck (how in the hell did my head shrink?). They had a sale; buy one fur felt fedora for $50 or two for $50 each and get a third free. I know the newer Stetson are not what they used to be but I also know a bargain when I see it; I just can't find fur felt fedora for anything close to this price back home. Even if these have a short life they will make me happy. As it turns out my large head size worked in my favor as I ended up being offered what I think is older stock and the quality shows. I took six of these bargain hats with two being newer, thinner versions with fabric sweat bands and four being thicker felt versions with leather sweat bands, about as thick as my older Temple. It was around this time that it dawned on me that there was no room in the car so I asked if they would ship these 6 hats. It took some asking about but they finally produced a box big enough to ship them all and gave me a shipping quote that was quite reasonable. I noticed there was room for just one more hat so I started looking around. I found, parked in a corner, a stack of older stock fedora marked pure beaver priced at $100 with one in my size so I took that one too. I was in a rush, all this went down in roughly 30-45 minutes, and out the door headed on my way toward South Dakota. Six weeks later I got home this week and found my box of hats delivered, safe and sound. Upon opening the box and looking at the products in daylight, with some time on my hands, I have no regrets, I think I got some great bargains. The employees were fantastic and I would love to see what they have they next time I am in town. I have some fuzzy mobile phone photos of the inside of the shop and of the hats I bought if anyone cares to see them.
We started the day in Kansas City raiding the bargain cave at Cabela's, we lunched at Arthur Bryant's and headed north toward Mitchell, South Dakota in an early July rain storm. As we approached St Joseph, knowing time was short I swung by the Stetson store for a quick look as my wife and daughter waited in the car (in)patiently.
The Stetson outlet is in an industrial area of town in what appears to be a non-descript concrete building that appears to be a factory building. The employees later said it was a Stetson factory that shut down the production side but retained the outlet shop. The stock is mostly cowboy hats and clothes. The fedora were all on one wall with perhaps 75 fedora out. I have a tough hat size to fit, some where between 7 3/4 and 7 7/8 so I did not really think I would end up buying much. As it turns out my hat size seems to have shrunk down to a proper 7 3/4 so I was in better luck (how in the hell did my head shrink?). They had a sale; buy one fur felt fedora for $50 or two for $50 each and get a third free. I know the newer Stetson are not what they used to be but I also know a bargain when I see it; I just can't find fur felt fedora for anything close to this price back home. Even if these have a short life they will make me happy. As it turns out my large head size worked in my favor as I ended up being offered what I think is older stock and the quality shows. I took six of these bargain hats with two being newer, thinner versions with fabric sweat bands and four being thicker felt versions with leather sweat bands, about as thick as my older Temple. It was around this time that it dawned on me that there was no room in the car so I asked if they would ship these 6 hats. It took some asking about but they finally produced a box big enough to ship them all and gave me a shipping quote that was quite reasonable. I noticed there was room for just one more hat so I started looking around. I found, parked in a corner, a stack of older stock fedora marked pure beaver priced at $100 with one in my size so I took that one too. I was in a rush, all this went down in roughly 30-45 minutes, and out the door headed on my way toward South Dakota. Six weeks later I got home this week and found my box of hats delivered, safe and sound. Upon opening the box and looking at the products in daylight, with some time on my hands, I have no regrets, I think I got some great bargains. The employees were fantastic and I would love to see what they have they next time I am in town. I have some fuzzy mobile phone photos of the inside of the shop and of the hats I bought if anyone cares to see them.
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