Yeah, I remember the first person that walked in came in, looked around and they go, is this it? It was like a stab in the heart.
And when you put a pair on, just a little bit more swagger, just a little energy.
Our little slogan is, uh, locally famous since way back when. We didn't know any other way to call it.
Take us through those first early years of, I don't know if this is right. I don't know if we should keep doing this.
From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spanel, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.
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Just visit INFB.com to get connected to a local agent. Tell them Nate and the team of Get Indiana sent you Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. Let's insurance together. Now let's get into this episode of Get IN.
My guest today is Jeff Boone and he's the co-owner of Cowpokes Work & Western, a beloved Indiana Western and work apparel retailer.
Today we're gonna get into the founding story of Cowpokes. It started all the way back in 1993, their expansion at the late 2022 to Cloverdale and talk about the wide world of auctioneers in the state of Indiana. I think it's super interesting. If you grew up in rural Indiana, you probably know an auctioneer.
So talking through that business and and how things have evolved over the years. So Jeff, welcome to the show.
Thanks, Nate. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thank you, man. I'm excited to learn about this. Uh, if you've driven on I 69 and you've seen billboards, you've heard radio spots, you heard about Cowpokes for a long time.
You guys have been rocking and rolling since 1993. Yeah, correct. Up in Anderson.
That's right.
There's an interesting story on how this business got started. I'd love for you to take us back to the genesis of Cowpokes and why you guys started this brand.
Fairly interesting story, I guess I should say. Uh, it kind of goes back, uh, to when we were in high school, and when I say we, I was.
On the livestock judging team when I was in college and high school and that got a college,
where'd you go to high school
at? Pendleton Heights.
Oh, the Arabian?
Yeah, the Arabian. And we had a really good mentor. His name was Gary Wilson. He was our ag teacher and he really was a motivator. He pushed us hard to get onto into our careers and whatever that might be.
Uh, one thing he did was he saw, uh, you know, he saw some promise with some of his students in, in the livestock judging thing, which for many people don't really understand that. But, uh, it is a big deal, collegiately. And at the time, it pushed us into a, a college in, um, Black Hawk College in Kewanee, Illinois.
And, a good friend of mine Doug Edge. And I went there. We started there, we went. And when we would judge, we'd have to have, you know, have to have a sport coat on and maybe the Wranglers and some Roper, Justin Roper boots on, and it was just part of the attire. And we would hit little Western stores here and there.
And, and, uh, as that evolved into, we went into senior college and we did that as well. We kind of joked around that, you know, sometime we oughta just start a store, you know, if we started our own store, we could carry cool stuff, you know, it wouldn't be this, Hee Haw-y, hokey stuff that we seemed like we were finding at the time, you know, back in the, uh, late eighties and early nineties.
And so, uh, we just joked around about it. But then right outta college, I, uh, and my wife Lynnette, when we were at Black Hawk and, and she was on the equestrian team, and so she had a horse background. I had a livestock background and, uh, we get went, we got married on horseback at our house and we went to Wait,
wait, wait,
Hold on. Yeah,
yeah,
yeah,
got married on horseback. Yeah, we did like, like was the. Was the, the minister also on horseback?
Yeah, he was on one too. Yep.
So the minister's on horseback. Yep. And you two are on horseback.
Yep. And she's sitting side saddle and I was just sitting like a regular, you know, cowboy on there.
No
way.
We did it at our house. We had a riding arena there. She showed. And so we she'd practice out there and we had all her family sitting on round ba on in that round pen, basically on bales of straw. And uh, yeah, we got married on horseback.
So did she had come, she comes down the aisle side saddle on a horse.
Yeah.
Yeah. Uhhuh. That's incredible. Yeah. Okay. Wow. So this is a lifestyle.
So this is a lifestyle. Right, exactly. It was a lifestyle. And, uh, at the time, you know, we, of course we hadn't started the store or anything like that yet. And, um, and so we, we go on our honeymoon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We stay on a ranch and we ride the entire time we're on this ranch.
We went into town and visited some of the cool shops. You know, there's a lot of really cool shops in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and at the time, and we got back home and just outta nowhere, my good friend Doug calls me up and says, Hey, you wanna start that, that store thing? And I said, that Western store thing?
I said, yeah, I think I do. I think we'd like to do that. Now keep in mind, this is in July of 1993 and. We put things in motion. I quit my job and wait, hold,
wait, wait, wait. He just calls you and says, you wanna start that store
thing? Let's just start the store. And we have no clue what we're doing. I mean, we literally are retail ignorant.
I mean, we don't know what we're, I mean his dad, uh, owns and still does a hardware store and, and so he has some retail background, a little bit in that respect. My grandfather was an auctioneer, so no, really no retail background. There we're both college graduates, but I have an animal science degree. He's got an education degree
Both of those directly apply to starting a store. Absolutely.
Yeah. So
what are you doing? What was your first job?
So, got right outta college. I got, I went into chemical fertilizer recommendations and sales and, which is not what I studied, but that's what I got into. I was in that business for about a year when this opportunity came up and he says, you know, you wanna start this thing?
And I said. Yeah, let's do it. And so now that's in July of 93. We were open by November that year. I mean, literally we were open that year.
And when did you quit your job?
Uh, like month or a half or so before that. You know, that seems like it was like, oh, hey, uh, wait, wait, lemme try this.
You guys just started your family too, right?
No, we had, uh, just, just had been married. Was it?
Oh, you, okay. So you had guys that had gotten married, so nothing like having to go to your, your wife and her family. Yeah. You know what, I'm gonna quit my job and start this store.
Well, yeah, and Doug, uh, took a big leap too because they had just, they were pregnant, gonna have a baby, and so his first son, so they were, they were kind of dabbling with that.
And I keep in mind we're, you know, we're 22, 23 years old and, uh, again, we don't, you know, we really don't have a lot of background there, but, so, uh, kind of fast forward. You gotta go ahead.
Well, what's the, the process of starting a store? Like, do you have to leverage all of your savings and buy all the inventory to put in the store?
Well, that was, and get, and like find a space. How do you know where to go? Like, take us through the process of opening up a store.
Well, that's a good question. First thing we did was we tried to figure out what the name was gonna be. So we'd sit around, we'd hash it out, you know, the rusty nail, the rusty spur, the blah blah, blah.
Everything that was kind of corny and hooky and things that we, we didn't want to do. And, uh, one day we just sitting there and all of a sudden just popped in the head said, it's called Cowpokes it, let's call it Cowpokes Western Outfitters. And, you know, we were kind of Cowpokes and you know, it, it had a good feel to it.
So we're like, that's catchy. Let's, let's come up, let's call it Cowpokes Now. Now what are we gonna do? Well, we gotta find a location. So we picked a location there right off of I-69 It was, uh, some, It was some folks that I knew that had the spot and they wanted to lease out this space. And so I reached out to them.
They're like, yeah, sure. You know, we'll, we'll do it. What, what, you know, we'll, let's try to get this thing started. And then the next step was to try to get some funding because we knew we were gonna have to have some money and we didn't have any money. So that was, uh, that was a challenge. You know, we went to a bank and the bank says, you know what, we know your families know you're college graduates, you know, feel good about that.
But this western thing. You wanna start a restaurant or a gas station? Yeah, we'd probably fund that. But a Western store we don't dig it. You know, we don't, I don't think that'll work. So we're, so
you get denied?
No, we got denied. Yes. The hammer down. No, it's a big zero. And keep in mind it was not a lot of money.
We had calculated, again, out of our ignorance, um, we calculated we needed $65,000 to start a store. We thought that was the number what, where it came from. I don't know. So, uh, we had to, to rely on, um, uh, Doug's grandfather was very helpful and, and we signed a note, put our, put our homes up against it, you know, just like a traditional bank loan.
And we borrowed the money and, uh, went to our first buyers' market.
Was that hard for, for you guys, like going in to pitch his grandfather?
Oh, it, it's, yeah, it was kinda like, well, you know, I, we knew he was a very understanding man. He had, he had started Matthew's Markets. He had, uh. Uh, been in the grocery store business for a long time.
He is very successful, you know, but he was an entrepreneur, so we knew that he would have some faith in us, and he did. And we were so grateful for that. And, um, um, you know, so getting that initial loan. But the only, the funny thing was, is that, uh, in the western industry, they would, they would hold markets and they would be regional markets where you would have your, your, uh, main brands like Wrangler would be there in Stetson and Yeah.
You know, they would show up and then you'd place your orders. Well, uh, we would, we showed up and we said it was a three day show and said, Hey, you know what, the four of us, let's just, uh, let's just split up. We'll go try to place some orders, meet back at noon. It's the first day of a three day show. By noon, we'd set down, we grabbed the orders, we flapped 'em down, we added 'em up, and we'd already spent over a hundred grand.
And we. We're in halfway into the first day of a three day show, so we knew we, we were gonna be cash poor. We knew we had some, we had a, an uphill battle and, uh, but we, so what
do you have to do there?
We didn't even have money to be able to afford to buy like, new retail fixtures. We went and made 'em outta wagon wheels and, and, uh, screwed together two fours and did everything we could then.
Then some, we got the store opened up. We took barns, Toro, barn downs, and decorated up this roughly, uh, I think it was around 3000 square foot retail retail
space. And how were you guys, I think one piece of it is like buying, you know, like you have to go into these, the regional mm-hmm. You know, that buyer's market and you have to pick what people are gonna want.
How were you learning about what people wanted from a Western wear perspective that wasn't hokey?
Well, that was it. You know? Uh, we, you know, had had worn it, we'd seen it, you know, we kind of knew what we liked and we thought when we got there, we would, at the market, we would just really find all kinds of things that we really liked.
And we found it was a little more challenging than what, than what we expected.
Yeah. Because I mean, sometimes people say like, okay, you have to tell your customer what they want. And other people are like, you have to listen to your customer about what they want. Were you guys getting feedback from other people in the area of like, oh, we want X, Y, Z brand, or, sure.
How was that going?
Sure, absolutely. Everybody was pitching their brands that they wanted to see you carry once you got opened up. And
what were like the, the, what were the Cadillac brands for Western at the
time?
In 93,
in 1993, Wrangler was the big dog. I mean, it was, Wrangler was the big one. And if you remember Garth Brooks era going on and he would wear the brush popper that was a Wrangler shirt.
It was a real heavy. Almost like a canvas shirt. I mean, it was, we, we'd joke about it. It was almost bulletproof, you know? I mean, it was super stiff and uh, that was a big thing. You know, the oil skin dusters was a big deal at the time. And then Stetson and Resistol brands were the big, big hat brands. And a lot of this stuff has changed and uh, yeah, position wise over the years.
But those, yeah, those were kind of the top brands.
Okay. So you're going in there and you're just like hearing people's pitches and you're trying to figure out how much inventory to carry. Mm-hmm. How much of each thing to buy, and you end up with a hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise. Mm-hmm.
And. You're outfitting it with parts of old barns and wagon wheels and, and you put together a store in a couple months. Mm-hmm. And then grand opening comes. How are you getting the word out there? Like, Hey, Cowpokes, Western Outfitters are gonna be opening up in November. Yeah. Your elaborate marketing plan.
Yeah. No, it was not real elaborate. It was pretty simple. I mean, it was, newspaper was a biggie, you know, back then newspaper was still, still a thing. And, uh, boy, I probably made somebody mad now to say it was, it isn't now, but at the time it was the main source of advertise along with radio. Yeah. You know, those two were really the only choices we had.
I mean, really, we didn't have any internet that didn't really exist. And, and it was, you know, there was no marketing there in that respect.
So it was, it, it was you four working on it.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
So no employees, no night. Like if someone was there, it was one of you four.
We had a couple of part-timers, but mainly family, you know?
Yeah. Like my mom, my grandmother was involved and, you know, so it, it was definitely a family affair. Yeah. And, uh, we did
So you end up, uh, take me to the opening day. Like how does that feel to put it all together?
Well, that's a, that's a, that's a, but I think the biggest thing was as a product would come in, we'd get so excited to see the, you know, the trucks roll in and we'd get our little product and we'd stick it and we'd spread it out as much as we could to make it look like we really had something, you know, little short stacks of boots across the floor and Yeah.
Yeah. And, you know, spacing between the shirts. I mean, you did everything you could to make it look as full as you could. And I, yeah. And so, yeah, I remember the first person that walked in, it seemed like it was the very first customer walked in or shortly thereafter, came in, looked around and they go. Is this it?
Is this something he got? It was like a stab in the heart. You know? It hurt so bad. It was like, oh, come on, give us some time. You know? We'll do our best.
Well, where were people finding this type of apparel if it weren't? At your guys' store?
Well, they were, they were shopping two places. Uh, one was Henselmeier's in Greenwood that had been there since, I don't know, I think the fifties.
Um, maybe somebody's gonna correct me on this, but, but they'd been there a long time. And then there was Great Western Boot Company, which was on 96th and Keystone, and those were the two big, uh, spots.
Okay. So like there's nothing up towards like the Muncie area in, in your guys' neck of the woods?
Couple little shops, but no, not really.
Okay. Mm-hmm. So you guys open up and the first thing they say is, oh, this is it.
This is it.
And how does the first year go?
Uh, you know, I think it was, it was just hit or miss. You know, we were wondering, you know, can we pull this thing off? And we had a lot of faith.
I mean, you're trying to feed four miles.
Yeah. Five miles with a, with a kid.
Sure,
sure. Uh, like you guys open up an an immediate slam, slam dunk home run, you got a greatest hit.
Yeah. No, it wasn't quite like that. Yeah. It was a lot like, uh, okay, let's just keep trudging along and making this thing happen.
And were you doing anything else to make money at the time?
Not really. Still helping my grandfather in the auction business because, uh, you know, that's, at that time I had my, I did have my license, we'd have some estate auctions, some farm auctions here and there, and I would help him and, and he was good to me. We, he raised some cattle and, and some hay and, you know, was always involved in that.
Farmed a little bit. So there was, there was some side hustle money there. Wait,
because the thing is, is, uh, if, if you guys want to continue to grow out your inventory, you have to invest more cash back into it.
Mm-hmm.
So, like, to grow this business, it's not like, okay, yeah, we sell, like, let's say you make a.
You know, whatever your margin is, and then mm-hmm. It's not like you can take a ton of that out as profit. It's like, you gotta go buy more stuff to fill out the store.
You had to put every penny back into it. Yeah. We didn't pay ourselves. I mean, we'd get by. I, I actually, I forgot. I did, I was starting into the auto auction business at the time.
I was able to get, uh, a couple positions there and start working in the car auction industry and here in the Indianapolis market. And
what were the hours of the store?
Uh, we were, we were probably in that 10 to eight range, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
So how long did it take for it? For you guys to feel like, okay, we're not gonna go under.
So was this 2025? I don't know, maybe last year. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It was, uh, I think, you know, we went through a couple rough patches right there. GM basically moved out of Anderson, so we lost a lot of job base. When was that? That's tough. Uh, that was in the, that was right there in the early nineties.
And the last employees kinda shuffled outta there shortly thereafter. Uh, then we got into
Did you, you grew up kind of in that area. I mean, you spent your whole life in that area.
Yeah, I did.
I do wanna dive quickly. This is a little bit of a sidebar conversation, but I find it very interesting. Talk to me about life in the Greater Anderson area when GM was still there.
How did, how was it? Yeah. How was it rock and rolling when you were growing up?
Uh, it was, I was growing up, I guess I just thought it was, uh, normal. You know, there was, uh, there Was it
like vibrant?
Yeah, it was vibrant. There's energy there. The, uh, Anderson Indians were, were a big thing, you know, and the Wigwam there in Anderson and
Oh, the high school.
The high school, you know. Well, there were
multiple high schools, right?
There were, yeah, there were, but there was a lot of people in Anderson. There was a lot of employees and a lot of people, and so much industry and everything just, just was, uh, you know, fed off of that General Motors.
Yeah. By 1974 Anderson's 20 GM plants claimed 25,000 workers.
That's insane. Mm-hmm. Uh, so it was, you know, it was like a, a thriving metropolis. Then they end up closing down and pulling outta there in the nineties.
Mm-hmm.
How did like the vibe of the play of Anderson change after that?
It was pretty depressed. Yeah. It was definitely very depressed. So we, you know, and we knew that, that we had to be close to the interstate, that we were gonna have to be able to generate some traffic off the interstate and be able to pick up people and not just rely on, you know, our, our immediate community, although they were, they were very good to us.
The surrounding areas were good to us, um, you know, big agriculture base all the way around us. So, uh, always had, you know, great customer support from, you know, yeah. A lot of our local people,
Anderson prospered during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of GM controlling 40% of the auto market. By 1974, Anderson's 20 GM plants claimed 25,000 workers under the roofs, yet foreign competition in the movement of manufacturing New Mexico, China, India, and Brazil led to layoffs during the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1998, GM spun off Fisher Guide the result of a 1984 merger between Guide Motor Lamp and Fisher Body Division,
body, Fisher
Body, oh, Fisher Body Division. Mm-hmm. As, uh, as Guide Corporation, uh, an independent company that manufactured headlights solely for GM with GM's dominance in the auto industry, waning the potential and possibility to compete in the global market.
Grew Dimmer Guide Corporation, uh, decided to wind down and shutter operations in 2007. And I feel like yeah, with that, Anderson has really been fighting to get back mm-hmm. Uh, to pros, like to prosperity, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, you're, you're talking about these are the, the customers in the, in the place there, it's like spending money when people are losing their jobs and get laid off.
That's hard to open a retail business at the time that layoffs are happening.
Sure, sure.
Wow. Okay. So. Things are growing, things are, you're staying, you're keeping the doors open. How long does it, like, do you keep pouring back in and growing out inventory? Like, take us through those first early years of like, were there times that where you were like, Ugh, I don't know if we, I don't know if this is right.
I don't know if we should keep doing this.
There were, because, uh, when then this, the company Great Western, uh, boot company, they decided to close their stores and they did Houston. Yeah. And they had multiple stores across the country. They ended up bringing all that inventory back and dumping it here in the Indianapolis market.
And they, uh, they extended that as a kind of a go GOB going outta business sale. That lasted for a long, long time. So that really hurt us, uh, heavily. Oh.
So they were just like, wholesaling this stuff, like,
yeah. And we, and we're like, oh, this has gotta end soon. You know, 'cause it just kept going and going and going.
And then, um, it's like,
how long can they go outta business for
sure. And then shortly thereafter that, um, Henselmeier's closes down and they do the same thing, and they do that for a long period of time. So we had quite a few years of just, you know. Struggling trying to, to make sure that we were bringing in customers and, and you know, keeping the doors open.
It wasn't easy.
Wow. Like quite like, like five plus years.
Yeah. At least if I,
so like, are you turning a profit?
It was tight. I mean, there was years we didn't, you know, there was years we did not. There was years that we had a little bit, you know? Um, and so it was tough. And then,
and like why, what was the thought process behind why to keep going?
I think it was, we got this no quit attitude about us. All of them stew. Yeah. We just didn't wanna see that. We didn't see it. Wanna see all of our hard work that we put into it come to an end.
Yeah. And so where was the moment where then it kind of started to turn, you're like. We might be able to keep, like this might end up working out for us.
I think the biggest, the biggest turning point was we were able to buy the building that we're currently in now, which was a kettle's furniture store. And they had closed down.
So you moved locations
and we moved and we were literally across the parking lot. So we went from being off set. We was behind a Jim Dandy restaurant at the time.
It's Applebee's now. Uh, and then that building was on a main road on 53rd Street. And we, uh, as soon as I saw him stick the sign in the ground, I called, you know, I was like, Hey, um, we need to find a way to be able to buy this. So we went from 3,500 square feet to a building that was 20,000 square feet.
And yeah, it was a big jump. And so, which obviously creates new demands, obviously you're gonna to have more personnel, more product, all of the above. And, but it allowed us to begin to merchandise our product a lot better.
When you say merchandise your product a lot better, what does that mean?
So merchandising is when you, you display your products for the consumer to be able to shop it, you know, if it's merchandised well.
You know, it's, it's set up, it's positioned correctly in the store, flows well. The colors match. All of those things are Where were
you learning about this? Like how to run retail stores?
We were just learning as we went. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't have AI to show us or tell us. I mean, we had to, you know, we just researching it the best we could and learning from a lot of
people.
So you're like going out and talking to people, calling other retailers or like,
not so much calling other people. We would drop in and see how people, do you know how they would a, they would merchandise their stores and No, just other stores, not necessarily Western stores to see how they were
doing.
Yeah. I just finished, uh, made in America. It's like the Sam Walton, his book. Yeah. And he talks about, he would just go into his competitors and just see how they were doing things. Sure. And he had his little like tape recorder and he would just like talk to himself about price of, I don't know, shirts at.
Sears 26 99 or whatever. Mm-hmm. And he was like, and he got caught multiple times and they'd make him give up his tape recorder. Did they really? Oh yeah. He, he was like, um, I mean, just like he called himself like a merchant. That was what he was, he was like, I am the ultimate merchant. And just like wanted to create great experiences for his customers and really thought about placement and what they brought into the store and how they moved it and all the stuff.
It was, it's really interesting. It's a fascinating story. And I mean, obviously the rise of Walmart is incredible now. It's like everyone hates Walmart. I feel like, you know, like it was like rural America's, like Walmart killed all of our small business, but at the time they were just like. I mean, small Bentonville, Arkansas, people that were like fighting against the, the big Kmarts of the world.
Mm-hmm. You know, and they were like fighting against the evil mm-hmm. Empire and now then they like, kind of became that. Yeah. Very interesting. So you guys are growing, you go into this big space. Do you have to go back and raise more money? Like how do you end up getting to fund all the inventory to grow to like a, you went from what, what size space to what size space?
From 3,500 to 20,000 square feet. Yeah. I
mean that is,
it was a big jump for us. Yeah. Yeah. But it made all the difference in the world. The proximity to the main road gave us a lot more visibility. Uh, that in itself instantly created more traffic. Being able to have more products, be able to merchandise 'em better, having a shipping and receiving room, you know, having a conference room to be able to work with salespeople instead of just pouring it out on the floor right in the front door.
You know, there was a lot of things there that, that really allowed us to become a lot more efficient and, um, you know, just, just, just be better for our customers come in in the shopping experience.
Wow. So you take me to the opening day of the new store, 20,000 square feet. Yeah. Like are, is there a line out the door?
Are people knocking down the door trying
to get in there? There were a lot of people excited about it. Yeah, they were definitely excited. 'cause we had to do a little short period of closing. I forgot about that till you mentioned it. And where we had went from one store into the next, uh, we had a lot of internal build out that we had to do.
So we, um, we prepared a lot of that. Got it. Ready. Um, you know, during that timeframe when we were switching over
how many years were you in the original location?
Uh, we were in there. 10. Yeah.
Okay. So this is, you're a decade into the business
at this
point?
Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, we were, so that would've been, um, 20.
That would've been, what was that, 2013 I guess we moved into, um. Into the current location that we're at now.
Okay. And people are excited.
Yeah. They were excited. And we were too. We were, we were so proud of this new spot and, and excited for the potential that had,
so, so this put you in 2003 ish timeframe?
Oh yeah. It would've been 2003. 93 to 2000. Yeah. 2003. I said 13, but yeah, 2003.
So it's 2003. What were the hottest selling things when you opened the new store?
Hmm. Well, a couple brands had really made their way area, which you hear a lot about Ariat now. Is, is, that's how
you say that.
Yeah. Ariat.
I always thought it was
Ariat.
You say that too.
Oh, you say area.
Okay. Depends what part of Indiana you're from.
Oh
yeah. That's fair. All right.
Yeah. Okay. Yep. So, but t was a good one. Uh, where
are they out of?
I think they're based outta California, but I'm not sure. You can look it up and see.
San Leandro, California.
Okay.
9 4 5 7 7. There you go.
Okay. So they kinda started to take off.
Ariat became, yeah, it became a big player in the industry. Um, you know, they, they got into footwear and it's where they started footwear, but then they got into, uh, clothing as well. And so you're starting to see a lot of that out there. They're a huge company now. Uh, another company that really came in and, and really took some market share from Wrangler was, uh, a company called Cinch.
Uh, that's, um, that was a company that really, and, and still they're a big player to this day.
See? I see. I haven't heard of that one.
Yeah. And other companies that have, that have, that were around for a long time that have kind of evolved Panhandle, there's, there's, um, quite a few different companies, obviously.
Yeah. Just that's just in the clothing side of things. And then, excuse me, footwear, uh, definitely, you know, evolved. A lot of new companies came along. Uh, some old companies really, you know, put their, got their best foot forward and started. Can
you say what was like the, what's the most like iconic legacy boot brand?
Well, I would say it, it, unfortunately, it's not what it used to be, but, and, and, uh, these guys would probably hate to hear it, but Justin Brands, I mean, Justin Boots were, they were just, you had to have Justin boots if you were a Western store. And, uh, they were, they were big players. And uh, then there was companies like Lucchese, and, you know, you got Tony Lama, Dan Post, uh, you know, those guys are all, and they're still around the Tony Lamas, right?
Tony Llamas. Yeah. And we still carry those brands in there as well. And so yeah, Double-H was a work boot brand that was, uh, you know, pretty much everybody had to have that.
The most iconic, like if, if you had to say like, this is the legacy boot brand in America, it would be Justin.
Yeah. In my opinion it was at the time.
Yeah.
And then, uh, but Tony Lamos right there with it. And yeah, most of the time lot of those companies are owned by the same parent company. And, uh, but because you know, when it comes something, you know, everybody when it comes to Western, the first name I think probably most people would say is Stetson.
You know, a Stetson, a hat. Yeah. That's what they most is most recognizable.
Do you know what's crazy is that today I would say, uh, outside. Of, uh, the traditional Western wear kind of culture. Like if you just said America, you surveyed everyone in America. Mm-hmm. 300 plus million people. Most recognizable Western wear brand.
I think a lot of people would say Tecovas.
Oh, interesting.
I think the non non-country folks would say Tecovas. 'cause they watched Yellowstone.
Yep.
And Tecovas did a great job of like buying ad space around Yellowstone.
Yes.
And it's like, I, I don't know. And I, I thought I swore Oh yeah. Tecovas has to be a legacy boot brand.
Mm-hmm. And they're like seven years old or something like that. Like, they're not very old, but they, they just seem so, like old and legacy and high quality and just American.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's, they're, they're in their own story. Uh, for sure. In fact, uh, we, they, they actually. It came to us. We went to them at the d Dallas Market, uh, just what's it been two years ago.
And, um, they asked us if we would go ahead and continue, would start to carry their product because they were strictly an online only retailer,
which is just not, it just doesn't seem how, like the typical Western wear. Individual would shop for boots.
Mm-hmm.
Like buying something, like buying a pair of boots online like that doesn't seem like that's really hitting the American lifestyle clientele.
No, they definitely went after, it's a completely different customer and they really, they really focused on sports. I know they ran some commercials on the, during the World Series, you know, they, they to that, the primarily the men initially and, you know, uh, this is a western product's Western brand. It, this, it's a, it's a great example of the Western lifestyle and everything that's involved in it.
It was almost like Tecovas were the boots for people who'd never be on a farm, like to start.
That's
right.
But for me, but they. But they didn't sell it that way. Mm-hmm. They sold it as like, this is, this is Yellowstone in the American lifestyle. Yeah. And then you like go, oh yeah. And then you look at everyone who's wearing Tecovas and you're like, wait a sec, this is for like people who maybe grew up on a farm but live in the city now.
Oh yeah.
Wow. Okay. So you guys got to end up being a retailer now.
So we are, we're actually one of only a few retailers that carry 'em. So we do carry 'em in our store now. And, and I was How
did that happen?
Well, and I was pleasantly surprised. We, they had their presentation set up for the very first time at the Dallas market just two years ago.
And, uh, we went in to the showroom, sit down, talked about, looked at the product For the first time, I had never even held a pair in my hand. Really was impressed with the quality. It was far better than I expected. The comfort was incredible. So, you know, we as a group, we looked at it and said, yeah, let's do it, you know, and, and allow this company that is a marketing genius, push the product and, and, and help lead the customers to us, which we have all these other things for the customers to be able to.
Take advantage of in our
city. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's cool too of like, uh, more people are wanting to buy Tecovas. Like I feel like they are, you know, it's, they're growing in popularity and boots just in general. Like, I don't think that, um, I think that every year that I've been in Indianapolis, more and more people are wearing boots in the city.
Mm-hmm. So it's like getting them to come up and try on Tecovas and check them out up at your guys' store and they be, oh yeah, I could use like a nice button down, or I could use this, that, the other thing. I think, I think it's pretty cool. What is the like legacy customer's opinion of. Tecovas.
That's a good question because I don't, uh, I don't get much feedback and now I'm not in the store very often, so I don't get a lot of that initial feedback, you know, back and forth between the customers on that particular brand.
Yeah. Uh, but, but we do, the feedback in general about the brand has been great. And so, uh, I, like, I think a lot of our legacy customers are, they're pretty much diehard to the, to the brands that they've been wearing for a long time. Yeah. But they will, they will branch out and try some new things, particularly when it comes to comfort, because that's really one thing that the western industry has done very, very well, is incorporate a lot of technology into the footwear, into the, even into the cowboy boots so that they're, they're not just not an old hard, you know, just a solid leather sole pair of boots that was traditional,
some solid leather sole boots and some extremely starch jeans.
Okay. I have to tell a fun story that my friends will love. So we were out in, uh, Utah for a week. I go on a spring break thing and. One of our, like our vacation things, we go out with a group. There's like six or eight of us that go and, um. Every day someone gets to pick what they want to do. You know, like, you know, and it's non-negotiable.
If, if I said, I want to go skiing, everyone says, cool. All right, let's go skiing. Yeah, perfect. Uh, and so one of, uh, one of my friends, or I mean, or, uh, his wife Katie, she wanted to go line dancing. That was her thing. She's like, well, I wanna go to a honkytonk and go line dancing. And so we were like, all right, well we have to look the part.
Mm-hmm.
So we ended up going to a western store out there and, and we're like, 'cause we had traveled pretty light. And I was like, you know what? I think I'm gonna get a pair of boots and some, and I try on these, these pair of jeans, they bring these to me. And, and they were the most starched, uncomfortable.
It felt like I had sandpaper jeans on. And I walk out there and my legs are stiff, and I'm like, no wonder cowboys are bow-legged. Like these are. They had like unlimited starch. It was so they would've just stood there by the themselves. Sure. And like held themselves upright. It was, and I was like, oh my gosh.
People really wear those. Like, that's wild.
We used to do it religiously. We used to reli when, when we were in school and we couldn't afford to take 'em to the cleaners, we would just, you know, buy the old Niagara starch and spray 'em on there and then, and then sell on an iron board and press 'em all out till we got 'em as hard as we could get 'em.
And then
why, why was that? I
don't, we like was the thing I we're just, we're just dumb I guess. I don't know. You put those
on, you're like, yeah, these are, that's about right. Yep. Can't breathe.
It's still a thing. You know, I've actually still got a couple p pair hanging up in the, uh, in the claws every once in a while.
Throw 'em on there. But I mean, that good crease straight line right down the center, you know, is really crisp. I mean, it's, no, I love it. There's, there's still a lot of, a lot of people still do it. And, and, uh, like I said, I've still got a couple pair, but a lot of cowboys will start their jeans in
Today's episode of Get In is brought to you by Cowpokes Work & Western an Indiana small business known for high quality.
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I don't know where, where did it really feel like you guys were gonna survive and thrive for the foreseeable future?
I think it was probably around 2010 or so, you know, when we got past the 2008 crash and everything really got tough again. Um, and we got
she outta the frying pan into the skillet. It's like over and over, right?
Yeah. I tell the story. There was a, a friend of mine that I'd met in the car auction industry and he was a, he was an employee that, that really helped fledgling for dealerships, get their feet back on, get their, get themselves, you know, back on their feet. And, uh, I always respected him a lot about business and one thing he told me in 2008 when everybody was, was just kind of holding back and taking, taking their dollars, their advertising dollars, and not spending them, and they were cutting back staff and everything else.
He said, Jeff, remember one thing that I tell you about business? He said, you cannot retract your way to success. Remember that? You cannot retract your way to success. And that was the one thing I remembered. He told me not to forget it. And I've never forgotten, and I've told it a hundred times, but it was a, it was an important, um, uh, piece of advice that I'm glad I took advantage of because we, when things were tough, we said, okay, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna start finding new ways to market and advertise and reach out. And we took a, we took a big push, particularly when we moved in the new location. We changed our name a little bit and we changed it to Cowpokes Work & Western when we moved in there, because a big part of our business was the work industry.
You know, a lot of guys need good, solid, comfortable, durable work boots. And we had 'em and some clothing to go along with it. And so we wanted to really push that and know, and, and get that customer in the store. And the other thing we wanted to do too is really to appeal to that Indianapolis market and get that, that customer coming over and seeing what.
Western wear really looks like it isn't the old hee-haw thing. It's not the hokey Western wear. It's, it is very fashion driven and you noticed it a lot and, and, um, a lot of mainstream fashion even, you know, even to this day. But it keeps getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And you're right when you brought that up about boots, I mean, most men want a pair of boots.
It is a masculine, you know, feature for men to wear a pair of boots. And, uh, so, you know, it's, it, we wanted to reach out and try to bring in that customer that wouldn't necessarily think that they should come into our store. And that part was very successful.
I mean, you think about the Tecovas like marketing slogan, I think it was like walk Taller.
Mm-hmm.
Like that was their, I, and when you put a pair on, it just feels like you have just a little bit more swagger, just a little energy, just, I don't know. I love it. I thought I, I got my first pair for Christmas I two or three years ago, and as the moment you put 'em on, I'm just like. Yeah, I am that guy.
Let's
go. And that, and I gained another half inch to three quarters in height too. So that's
not
bad
for a, yeah, for a guy that not, not blessed on the tall side, it's you. You walk tall, it's great. You do
walk tall.
Okay. So things are rocking and rolling. You make it through 2008 and uh, you know, like are we, we're thriving, are we starting to be able to.
Step away from the business, or is every day you're working in the business, you're working, like when do you get to maybe pull off the floor and, uh, work more on how the actual business overall and when did your auction business start to take off?
Sure. Yeah. I was, I was already pulling away from day to day operations and because I was really digging my heels in deep into the auction side of things.
And so, which is a whole nother story, but that was, that was kind of a transition for me to start stepping back. And we were able to, you know, as we went, we always had some really great employees. I mean, we've had employees that have been with us from day one and still with us to this day. And, um, you know, helping us grow and build a business along with our family.
So, uh, that, that allowed me to be able to step away and start doing some other things I needed to do to, to continue particularly into the auction industry.
Yeah. Talk to me about that your grandfather started mm-hmm. In the auction business in the fifties.
Yeah. Yeah, so his name is Mort McShurley he had two daughters.
One of 'em is my mom. He never had a son, so, um, fortunately for me, he became my dad when I was about 10 years old. And, uh, I got to, to hang out with him. I mean, since I was, from the time I was a toddler, my very first auction, I was a month old when I've got taken to my very first auction. So it was in my blood.
And, uh, he did a lot of estates. Uh, he did a lot of farm auctions, a lot of equipment, livestock. So that was the area that he was. Primarily in, and like I said, he started out in a little cattle pasture right out there in front of their house. That's still our location to this day, right outside of Markleville on the Highway 36.
And we still affectionately call it Mort's Auction Field there, you know, it's under Jeff Boone auctions, but it's, we, we, we still, uh, leave the name as it is on the facility. But, uh, so yeah, he, he started that in the fifties and grew it. And, um, in fact, we don't even remember exactly when he started the, the original barn burnt down from a lightning strike and it burned up a lot of the records that we had, uh, you know, from the time he started till 1958 or so.
And so we, we say our little slogan is, uh, locally famous since way back when, and we didn't know any other way to call it. So, uh, but yeah, it's, we've grown it, uh, immensely. It's, um, it's fantastic news. So
you were a 10-year-old boy and you started helping out and hanging out with Oh, yeah. With grandpa at the auction.
What, what was your job? Like your first
job in the
auction
business? Well, my very first job, and this is, uh, it's ironic that I happen to find it. We still have a lot of the records going back. And the very first account of me having a job was in 1975. And it was a, it was actually a very, uh, well publicized auction.
It was right down the road from us. And the guy had a lot of old, old, old antique automobiles. And this is in 75, so they were very old automobiles. He had an old tractor collection, and my grandfather had it as part of their estate, had the auction. And my job was to carry the clerking sheets from the clerk to the little makeshift office in the garage of the auction.
And, uh, I didn't do that very well either. I, my attention span was the size of a gnat, and I would probably set the papers down between the two locations. And, but on the back of it, it is funny because I looked on the back and it had my name written. He'd write all his expenses on that manila folder, and it had Jeff.
$5. So, hey, at at age five I got my first $5 bill. And, uh, so yeah, that was, that was my first, first job. And
when did you know that you wanted to get into the auction business?
Uh, I think I knew from the very first time I, you know, when I was a kid, I, I was like, okay, this is something I'm gonna do. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I dunno if I could ever talk fast, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna try this thing, I think down the road. But as I got, you know, in my teenage years, it was like, okay, yeah, this is gonna be part of it.
Did you, do you have to go to auctioneer school?
Yeah. Auctioneer school is, is really a mandatory thing that you have to do in order to be able to get your license.
Now. A lot of people will learn their chant, they'll learn a lot about the auction industry by being involved. Okay.
We gotta go into that a little bit on the chant.
Okay. '
cause it's, it seems like it's just the. Do you know where roulette, the game roulette? Mm-hmm. It feels like an auctioneer's chant is like when the, the ball is like dribbling around the edges.
Like, you know what I'm talking about?
That's an analogy I've never heard, but yeah.
That, that's how I, where it's just rolling. Mm-hmm. And so how does, how do you like start day one? If I wanted to learn how to be, uh, an auctioneer,
just wanna do a little auction school, then? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do a little auction school.
Okay. So basically when you go to auction school, what they did is they actually wrote it on a chalkboard and it said, I am bid 25, will you give 30? And so they would take everybody in the auction class and they would say, all right, everybody read this line and everybody together on the count of three.
And you say, I'm bid 25, will you give 30? Okay.
Yeah.
So what it is doing is it's saying, I'm making a statement. I am bid, I currently have a bid of $25. Would somebody advance the bid to the next increment, which for this sake will be 30 25. Will you give 30? I'm bid. I'm holding a bid at 25. Will you give 30?
And so we start that and you just say, A little faster, a little faster and a little faster. And then we begin to start changing it up a little bit with what are called filler words. And that's that roulette thing that you said you're hearing there. Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, the filler words will be things like, I'm bid will you give?
Make it now bid. Now who'd give, those are all type of filler words. And then so you'd go from I'm bid 25, but to get 30 to I'm bid 25, I'm ready to get 30. I'm bid 25. But to get 30, well if you just did it,
wait, wait, hold on. So
if you just did all that, just said the same thing, but if that's all you did,
I'm bid 25.
Who give 30?
That works. Now say it faster.
I'm bid 25. Who give 30?
There you go. Faster.
I'm bid 25. Who give 30?
There you go. So that is the basis of it. But now we got, when somebody bids, then you gotta change the numbers.
You gotta go hit.
Okay, now you're gonna go, I'm bid 30, but he give 35.
I'm bid 30. Would you give 35
uhhuh?
Yep. Now, so, and there's certain, there's certain words that slow you down. That draw you down. So instead of saying, would you give some, a lot of people say, would a give, would a give, give? Would you give? Would a give give That speeds it up. I'm bid 25, but to get 30,
see, like, that sounds like you're like the, the, would you give that part just doesn't sound like a real word.
Uhuh. Yeah. So 25. But to get 30, I'm bid 25. But to get 30, but to get 30, but to get 30, I'm bid 25. But to get 30.
So you, okay, so there you go. You said you, you said, I'm bid 25 Uhhuh, and then you're, but you been 30. Would you've been 30. What? You been 30?
Yep. That's it.
And you just like, think, you just, are there specific statements that you've, you, when you're figuring out your flow mm-hmm.
And your chant, that you're just like, okay, I know I'm gonna go here, then I'm gonna go here, then I'm gonna say this again. Then I'll come back to the beginning and I'll read it all back through again.
Mm-hmm. That's exactly what you do.
Wow. How long is that Auctioneer school?
Auctioneer school is only typically about a week to 10 days.
Okay. So you spend Yeah. Seven to 10 days. Mm-hmm. Figuring this out. Where did it feel like, like how long did it take for you to feel like, oh, I have a good, I have a good flow here.
Well, that takes that some for some. Uh, there are some that will go. My son, my son graduated in 2020 from auction school and one of our same
biz baby,
one of our employees who's becoming our social media, um, phenom, we call him Pablo.
Pablo just graduated last week, so we got to go. Shout out Pablo. Yeah, shout out to Pablo. And where is it at? And it's, uh, auction school is at Reppert in Auburn, Indiana. So that is where I'd went. It was in Decatur at the time. It's now in, in Auburn. And they, they, they operate a fantastic school there. But the primary goal for getting you there is really teaching you a lot about the ins and outs of the auction industry, the laws and all of the things that sail.
Yeah. What,
what are the misconceptions or like, I mean. What do you need to learn about like laws and how to run an auction and,
yeah. There's, there's a lot to it actually. There's everything from real estate law to, you know, um, ethical standards. There's, there's so much to it. And the auction industry has changed so much now.
It's, uh, yeah,
I mean, like online,
the rise of that online is huge. We're doing a tremendous amount of online auctions. We found they're very useful for us or allow us to get a lot more done. A lot of the items bringing more money
at first. Were you like anti
Yeah, absolutely.
Really
all of us were.
What, uh, what made the.
What switched
co COVID.
Oh yeah.
COVID. Fast forward. You know, you couldn't meet in person, you couldn't have auctions. And so
where was the moment? Okay, you're like, someone finally convinced you as you do COVID and you start selling stuff online, and then obviously the world opens back up and you're like, you know what?
We'll, we'll stay online.
A lot of them did. Yeah. A lot of 'em have never gone back. Uh, and we still believe in the live auction, you know? Most of the time we even marry the two together. So what's called a live simulcast? We'll actually have a live auction with internet bidding. So the bidders are seeing and listening to the auction in real time, and by pressing a button they can actually bid our screens, change colors.
That's an internet bid. We accept that this is, if it's a person in the crowd.
I used to love going to the auction with my dad and my grandparents. Mm-hmm. Like, they just love a, I feel like everyone's grandparents love to get off. They do. It's intimidating. Like you register for your number and you're like sitting there and
uhhuh,
you need to have like a straight like poker face
uhhuh,
and I'd be sitting there like, so happy, like, yeah, get em, dad.
Go like, can I put the number up? And it'd be so fun. Like Sure. Still is when you're, when you're in the heat of it.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, it's just like, oh my gosh, you got people yelled hip. Yep. And the guy's just hitting his chant and you're going, it's mm-hmm. What's the most fun auction You've got to be a part of
Weddings where we auction off the bride, the first dance with the bride.
Yes.
And, uh, raise a lot of money for, you know, the couple for their honeymoon.
Yeah.
I mean, we've sometimes we've raised over $5,000 just, you know, selling the first dance to the, to bride. But again,
no way.
Yeah. You just get a little competition going. A little pooling of the money gone together. Yeah. And so that's been, that's fun.
Something, something.
Yeah, I want to do that. Uh, I wanna do that when I get married one day. But for who gets whose table gets to eat first you could that and it's like, Hey, who wants to get up there and eat first? Like, especially after like a nice cocktail hour. Oh yeah. You could, you could get some people rolling there.
Absolutely. You could. Have you ever done any like, charity auctions or something? Oh yeah. What's like, any of, any items that you've auctioned off that stick with you of like, wow, like the queen's jewels or whatever.
Mm. Man, I'd have to think about it. There's so many. That's the thing. There's just so many things that we've, we've sold, we've sold puppies to.
Gosh, you name it. Jewelry, uh, trips, um, you know, firearms. I mean, there's just so much, you know, we've done so much in Yeah. Different charity events.
I was gonna say, is there like a, I don't know if you sold like a million dollar ring or something, like what's like the most expensive most, what's the highest you've ever seen a bid get up to?
Uh, you know, we were in the millions on real estate, you know? Okay. Yeah. So I mean that's, that's pretty common. Uh,
has there ever been anything that just like blew your mind? Like, I can't believe people are bidding for this thing right now?
Let's see, what was it? There was something here recently, so it was an online auction.
We just had recently that we had some old headlights that were in a box and, um, and they actually brought. $1,800. And it was an online auction. It was, it was a couple old headlights, but they were, they were very specific to a vehicle. And, and two bidders outta California were fighting over 'em because they, they, they fit some vehicles that they're restoring.
And so that was, that was just recent that that happened. We had some comic books that. In my opinion, seemed to break the bank and got the win here just recently. Yeah. Thousands of dollars. Um, so, yeah.
Yeah. And is that like, okay, you, someone hires you as an auctioneer
mm-hmm.
And they're like, Hey, you know, I think usually it's the states today.
Yeah.
Like what's the volume of auction? How has that changed over the course of. The last decade. Has the number of auctions gone down or up?
Oh, that's, I would say it has probably gone up. Uh, really, but, but in the years past, you know, that was the, uh, a main way to get rid of a lot of items. And then of course, they got marketplace that comes along and people selling a lot of their own items, which is still the case.
But what we're seeing are people coming back around to the traditional auction method. Number one, they don't have to deal with the calls and the spams and all of the, you know, the corruption that's out there. They can bring the products to us when we have, we have four very large consignment auctions at our facility every year.
We just got done with one last weekend where we'll had, we had like 1500 pieces of farm and construction equipment, you know, and vehicles in there. Where is that out? That's in Markleville location.
Oh, mark. Yeah.
Yeah. We do that quarterly. But you know, there's, you know, where we, you know, we sold millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment in two days, and people can bring those in.
They know they can get it sold. They're gonna get a check. It's good. They don't have to, you know, worry about. Their safety and other things in that transaction. Yeah. So, yeah,
that's fun. I think that, yeah, so knowing that there's more auctions now is interesting to me. I kind of thought that it was like,
I would say that there might be, I, there's no way to probably really put a F finger on it, but, but with an invent of the online auction, it really has exploded the industry.
Someone comes to you and they wanna host an auction. Mm-hmm. You know, like, let's say, okay, my grandparents. You know? Mm-hmm. And it's time to, we're, we're liquidating their estate.
Sure.
So do you guys then have to go through all the stuff?
Yeah, we will. And primarily if we're in situations where the real estate needs to be handled and they've got a lot of contents, and those contents need to be liquidated, we'll go ahead and take care of those contents.
And sometimes, most of the time, that's gonna be in an online format. And even the real estate, many times is in the online format. And it's been extremely successful doing that. Um, sometimes we move some of the items, if the location doesn't lend itself to having a, an auction pickup there, an live auction back to our facility, and we'll do them there.
But
do you do more live or online auctions?
Well, I would say that we're probably heavier on the online because we can get multiple of those out per week. Whereas crazy, your live auction, you're gonna be limited more to one or two a week if you were really pushing it through to be able to get your staff there and, you know, conduct the live auctions.
That's wild. So like, you know, you go there and you're, you're starting to uncover stuff and you're like, oh, these are comic books. Mm-hmm. And you guys are like looking through and seeing what, like where they're listed other places or just like, Hey, we tag it, we put it online and then see what people do with
it.
Oh, we do try to do as much of our due diligence terms in terms of, uh, you know, research on some of these items. Yeah. 'cause we need to know, you know, we need to know and wanna make sure, and you can never be good at everything. And there's gonna be areas that, but we've got several, we've got several different people within our crew that we've got an antique specialist, we've got coin specialists, we've got firearm specialists, you know, we've got equipment specialists.
So. We've got all these people in place along with a whole real estate staff, so that we can make educated decisions in everything that we do.
Wow, that's wild. Are, is the number of auctioneers increasing or decreasing?
Hmm, that's a good question. That's a good question. Of the National Auctioneers Association.
I would say that this's probably holding fairly steady is what I'm guessing.
What's the biggest misconception around auctions and auctioneers?
Oh, I would say probably one of the biggest misconceptions is also tied in with a lot of the automotive. Industry as well, because, you know, for years it was like there was, uh, this level of corruption or deception that's in the auction industry or the automobile industry, or, you know, and, and truth is they're some of the best people you ever meet in your life.
I've worked the car auction business, I've sold thousands of car auctions over the years and, you know, the wholesalers, the retailers used car guys. I mean, they're just guys making, trying to make an honest living. And they are some of the finest people you'll ever meet. And that's the same way in, in the auction industry, in the auction business.
And, um, you know, we're really blessed to be a part of that. I think it's just such a pure, um, open market way of finding the value of those products. And, um, people really appreciate that. They love the open competition. You know, it's, it's, um, it's, it's live and it's open.
Yeah, I think that it's, uh, it's. An exhilarating experience to see and mm-hmm.
Um, I feel like the city of Indianapolis doesn't have a ton of auctions. Or maybe I just don't see them. But like rural Indiana, there's, there's nothing like a good Saturday morning auction. You know, you get out there and just gets the people riled up a little bit.
Sure.
Okay. Back to Cowpokes.
Yep. So things steadily grow, steadily increase. You obviously the auction business starts to take off eventually. Back in, I mean, in 2022, you guys decide to expand and add a second location.
That's right.
Take me through that.
Well, uh, that all started with a conversation, uh, from our marketing manager, Krista, and, um, uh, another, uh, former friend that, uh, not former good friend of ours, uh, Bryce Howe from, uh, C Bar C Arena.
Those two were collaborating. I've known each other for years and collaborated, said, Hey, why don't we get the owners of these two entities, C Bar C Arena, which is a. Um, I think it's, it's either four or five acres under roof facility and they've got another ex, another building there as well, uh, that was geared towards equestrian related events or rodeo related events nearly every single weekend and many weeks throughout the year.
And, uh, how can we collaborate as a Western store and with them, be able to have some of our product there or promote our brands? And this was right before COVID hit and, um, the, um, consensus was, well, why don't we think about just building a building on site There, uh, COVID hits where everybody kind of taps the brakes for a few minutes.
We get back in business, we get the, the, make the decision to go forward with it. We build a 10,000 square foot building, could attach it to their arena. Uh, on the outside of their arena, make it a, a walkway between the two. So you, if you're in the arena for an event, whether it's a day or it's a week, you can go and shop inside Cowpokes and, um, go right back out the arena.
So it was a very nice tie in, worked out great. Uh, Carl and Cindy Harlan had owned the, uh, facility, had been fantastic to work with. And so we struck up a friendship, built the relationship, built the building, attached it, um, and haven't looked back. It's been great.
Yeah. Have you guys thought about doing that more places or is this one just serendipitous and you're like, you know, what if it, I mean, when you've been doing something one way for.
Oh my gosh, what is that? Almost 30 years? Mm-hmm. 93 to 2023. Like, uh, or was it just like the, the opportunity was just too good to pass up? Or, or the, is there a plan to keep expanding and growing and how come, how were you thinking about the future of Cal Oaks?
It made a lot of sense to us because geographically it's about an hour and a half from the Anderson location, so we could service our customers that we're already driving all that way to come to us anyway.
And
right off I interstate too,
right off I 70. It's, it's, it's just about the same approximation off the interstate as Anderson is off of I 69. So it, it made a lot of sense and that, that location has worked out really well to help service our customers out that way.
Nice. Uh, I love that you guys are also really tied in with the FFA national convention, right?
That's right. Yeah.
How long has that been going on?
Oh, a long time. We've been, we've been, um, at that event, whether it was held in Louisville or Indianapolis, now it is, and it has been in Indianapolis. It's gonna stay in Indianapolis for a long time. Uh, but we're their largest vendor outside of them, their own booth that they have for the FFA.
Uh, so we take, we take about, I don't know, we take seven semi-loads of product displays and we set it up for a three day event. There. We had, I dunno, it's 12 or 14,000 square foot booth that we set up. No
way.
And where there are 60,000 plus kids and advisors that come from, uh, high schools all over the country.
And, uh, it's just, it's a great opportunity to market and be in front of those customers.
How have you guys adapted the in-store model with the rise of e-commerce?
Early on we started our own e-commerce side of things and, uh, you know, basically we've been able to marriage our software programs up so they can see live inventory levels and, and be able to offer a big, big, big majority of our products online.
And like if you were, if you were starting again, if you were the same age in 20 25, 20, if you were the same age in 2026. Would you do it all over again?
Yeah, I'd do it all over again. And I'll tell you, I think the thing that makes me the most excited both in the retail industry and the auction industry is the type of people our customers are.
They're just fantastic, good, wholesome people that, you know, really want to do things they want to be. Some of 'em are, you know, they're all walks of life. They're all ages from little bitty babies to um, to, uh, you know, older folks. And, uh, they, they do all different kinds of things. They might be in manufacturing, they might have office jobs, but I think the one thing that they all share is that, um, that desire for the lifestyle that the western industry represents is that freedom.
Yeah.
Um, you know, hardworking, uh, outdoors type person that, that just wants to, to be able to show off what they really, how they feel.
How, how do you feel like that lifestyle has grown or shrunk in popularity since 1993?
I think it's grown. I mean, my opinion, I believe that's grown. I think people are wanting to get back to their core values, what they really believe in, what they feel like is, is honest and show people not only just tell people, but show people that, Hey, this is, this is what I believe in.
Do you think, this is an honest question. Do you think Yellowstone had, uh, played a part in that?
Absolutely. Yellowstone did a really good job of, you know, they, yeah, they really did. They used, they used real trainers, real horses, you know, they used real cowboys. They, they really, they really incorporated the western lifestyle in a way that, that made it probably better represented than it has by anybody else in, in any kind of western movies.
Yeah. And it's like, I feel as though growing up western, or like country
mm-hmm.
Is kinda gets, uh, perceived as like redneck or hillbilly. Mm-hmm. Or heehaw, right? Mm-hmm. And then like you have this rise of Yellowstone and it becomes like. Cool and fashionable and like tough and badass, you know? Mm-hmm. And it's like, and people of all walks of life are like drawn towards that, you know, like the, the John Dutton esque mm-hmm.
The Rip Wheeler esque, you know, of just like, I dunno, stone cold cowboy.
Mm-hmm.
I think it, I think it's really helped expand the popularity of Yeah. I mean, you think of the Tecovas and you think of the Ariat and, and those kind of brands.
Sure.
It's been cool to see.
Yeah.
Do you feel like, uh, leading into 2026, beyond, like how do you see this evolving?
Oh, I think it's gonna continue to do that. I mean, if you look around and just look at what's on people's feet, uh, most of the time, most of the guys I run across or see, I might see 'em in a restaurant or anything else. They're wearing western boots. They're wearing square toe western boots or work boots, you know, that is their dress boot.
Yeah. You know, it's, it's not just a work thing. It is, it's, it's a, it's a dress it up, take it to church on Sunday or out to the restaurant, the
bar. What are the old school, what are the old school western wear people say when they see someone like that's a, that's that guy's first pair of boots.
Yeah. Most of those guys are dead.
There you go. Come on. I love it, man. Uh, it's been so fun to learn, learn the story. I mean, to do anything. Well, for over 30 years, right? Is my math right? Yeah. 1993. Yeah. 33 years. Mm-hmm. In, in 2026.
Yeah. 33 years.
Holy smokes.
Yeah.
What do you hope people, when, when they think about Cowpokes. When they hear about you guys, when they come and visit your store, how do you hope your customers feel?
Well, I hope they hope they know that we're a family owned, Indiana family owned business, you know? And, uh, we're there to, to support them and, uh, service 'em to the best of our ability, you know, um, and, you know, be there for 'em, hopefully for a long time. Yeah. And continue to be able to offer these products that, that we know are just a, a big part of mainstream America.
What do you think the biggest opportunity for Cowpokes in the next five years is?
Hmm. I think just continuing to grow and, and get better at all the things we do now. You know, we're ne we, we are, we're one of our models. We're not complacent, you know, we don't wanna get complacent, we don't wanna set back on our heels and just wait for things to come to us.
We, we try to be aggressive in our social media and, and, uh, always offering new products, great products out there. So that's, that's a big part of it.
I love it. This next question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond.
Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, Jeff, why do you call Indiana home?
I've only lived outside of Indiana when I was in college, and I missed it when I was there. And um, so, you know, all of my family is here and, um, our businesses are here. That's where they started. that's where they're staying.
And so I don't have any other desire to go anywhere else, I guess, to live, you know, that's, I like going places and vacationing occasionally, you know, we get a chance to get away. But, uh, no I love Indiana. Love, uh, love where we are in Indiana. Love all the people around us.
Heck yeah. Okay. What's your favorite part of running auctions?
My favorite part of it.
Favorite part?
Oh man. I think, I think it's kind of that picker's lifestyle. Um, you know, you, you never know what that next call's gonna be and where they take you. Uh, you know, sometimes you, you're cracking doors open to old barns that haven't been opened for decades and seeing things that are, you know, covered in dust and um, have been just little gems and jewels that have been hidden for, for so long.
Yeah. I think a big part of it is that, that exploration.
Yeah. What's the bestselling boot right now?
The bestselling boot, our top boot probably. I hope the girls don't kill me, but I think probably Ariats right there at the top there.
You
there
go. Okay. Alright. What's one piece of gear that every Hoosier should, should own?
You need a pair of cowboy boots.
I think so. I, for, I think everybody needs a nice pair of boots for
women. For women, they're hot men. It makes you a man.
Amen. Okay. What is, uh, the best, when you think of Western fashion?
All right.
What season of Indiana, season of the weather is the best for Western fashion?
The young boys will probably say Daisy Duke season concert time. And I would say that's probably what you'd hear very young guys say.
That's, that's what the young guys, that's, I wasn't thinking that,
but I would say, I'd say the winter is, is an extremely popular season for it. I was
gonna say fall.
Fall and winter.
Yeah. Flannel.
Yeah.
When you start, because it's like. It sucks you going, I know you think about going to a country concert up in Noblesville.
Yeah.
Middle of summer. You throw on your jeans and your boots and Jason Aldean's out there and you're like, I mean, I'm sweating my starch right outta these jeans.
Yeah. But man, you look good. That's all
it matters. Yeah. Amen to that. Oh, okay. What's one western fashion trend that you've been all about?
When we went from rounded toe boots, uh, pointed toe and rounded toe boots to square to, that was a, that was a big fashion move that really catapulted the, the western industry.
Yeah. What do you think of HEYDUDEs?
Yeah. You know what? There for over, uh, for over a year, we were their largest single store retailer of, HEYDUDEs, we sold. Tens and tens of thousands of pairs of HEYDUDEs.
Where did you hear about them?
Well, ironically, we, we started hearing about it in the show ring. Uh, people out west were, uh, a lot of the kids were going out and they'd, they'd show their cattle or their sheep or their hogs, or they were, they were riding rodeo and they'd come back, they'd get off the saddle or come outta the ring.
They kick off their boots, throw on their, HEYDUDEs. 'cause comfortable, right? Lightweight, run around. And, uh, they're kind of getting pedaled in gas stations and small stores out west. And we went to a shoe show and said, Hey, let's, let's bring these babies on, bring 'em on big. And, uh, we debuted 'em at the national FFA convention.
I think we took. 1500 pairs, and we sold every single pair in three days. And, um, and then we started moving a lot of them, but, uh, where
are they based out of?
Crocs, Inc. came along and bought 'em.
It's so interesting. They blew up in rural America.
Mm-hmm.
Like no one in Indianapolis that I knew had HEYDUDEs.
Right. And I would go home and I'd look at my friends and I'd be like, what are on your feet? Like, HEYDUDEs, you don't know about them. And then they were in, all of a sudden they were in Walmart and they were, you know mm-hmm. Cowpokes and everywhere. Mm-hmm. And everyone in rural America had HEYDUDEs while, like, people in the big city did not.
Mm-hmm. It, it was such an interesting phenomenon of, of them blowing up. Yeah. When, when did you first remember seeing them?
Well, I, you know, it was probably at that, it was probably at that market, that first market where I went in there and looked at it. I said, well, okay, let's, I guess we'll give it a shot.
So.
When you were growing up, did you think you'd be a business owner?
I guess I never really thought much about it. You know, I really didn't until as I got older, got into my teens, you know, I was like, okay, I could probably do something. I always had that entrepreneurial spirit, so, yeah. Yeah.
What's your dream product to bring into Cowpokes
all of our dream products, I think we've already brought in to some degree.
I don't know, I don't have anything else that I could really say, but, um, I'm always looking, that's the thing. We talk about it all the time. What, what are some new products that people want or desire that they would like, and let's go after it. So, I guess our, my dream product is the next big hit. Yeah.
Yeah.
Have you, has anything ever blown up that. You thought was so silly.
Oh yeah. There's a lot of stuff, uh, lot of like
that's HEYDUDEs for me, honestly.
Yeah. The hey dude thing. That definitely blew up to a bigger thing than, and
it's, and I was like, what are like the, the OG, I mean now they're kind of cool.
They have some cool styles. The original ones I thought were pretty ugly. Yeah. Respect to HEYDUDEs, all respect. 'cause you prove me wrong and people love them.
Yep.
But like, and now they have like so many different options and they got like, you know, gobble it by Crocs and everything.
A lot of options.
And then a lot of people are kind of revolving back around to some of the better, more premium footwear with have a lot more support and construction to the sole for longer wear. So we're seeing a lot more of that too.
What advice do you have to other Indiana business owners?
Keep the mindset that you don't wanna be complacent.
That you don't want to just say, okay, what I've got now is enough. It's okay to be, to feel blessed. And I do that every single day and to know that, you know, I'm good, but mm-hmm. You know, I think if you're gonna be a business owner, I think you gotta be aggressive. You gotta put good, good people around you like we have, and allow them to make decisions that'll benefit the business.
Have their back support 'em, push 'em along, and, uh, let them be a big part of what you do. I think that's a big part of it.
If you weren't in the auction and western wear business, what would you be doing?
I thought about that a couple times, and I'm not sure, I was never very good at sports, so that probably ruled out.
Um, I'm, I'm certainly not a mathematician or an accounting major, but, uh, you know, I, I would say I, I can't think of anything else that I would probably be doing. It's funny, I, I've always had a, I always had a love for the beach though, and maybe, uh, maybe be a beach bum or little
surf instructor
or maybe, maybe, uh, piloting a ship or something.
I don't know.
Hey, there we go. Alright. The final same three questions we ask every guest who comes on the show first. Mm-hmm. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
We don't have to worry about being eaten by animals. We don't have bears.
Yep.
We don't have alligators.
Nope.
And we don't have sharks and we don't have typhoons or hurricanes or tsunamis.
Good reason to live here,
that those are all solid. If you have phobias of any of those things, Indiana's a spot for you. I like that. That is 100% the first time I've ever gotten that one.
Okay. There you go on
that one. That's a good one. Okay. This is your chance to shed some light and shed some love on a spot in Indiana that more people need to know about.
What is a hidden gem in Indiana,
we've got some good friends that own Smith Family Farms Market in Pendleton. They've got a fantastic meat market there of, uh, Smith Family Farms Market. Smith family. Yep. Smith Family Farms Market. Uh, they, it's, it's in Pendleton, uh, excellent meat selection there and local eggs to, you know, you name it.
So they're, that's one of my favorite spots. And then here recently, my family's tired of me talking about it. And this one will really surprise somebody probably out there. It's Leo's Market. It is. Um, they're brand new. They've been popping up. There's one in Greenfield, just opened up Leo's Market. Right?
What is this place?
Leo's Market. Is this a gas station?
It is. It is the most awesome gas station convenience store ever.
No way.
They are phenomenal. The way they're laid out. The um, uh, the way they're decorated, all of the offerings. They, they got everything from a bakery to healthy food choices. It's clean. Just they're phenomenal.
Leo's Market and Eatery. Yeah. Leo's is a one of a kind destination that blends the best features of a local market, a convenience store, and a fresh, always inviting eatery. Founded in Greenfield, Indiana in 2019, Leo's is the vision of Keith White and Stephanie White-Longworth, former leaders of the GasAmerica service chains of convenience stores.
And Leo, the name Leo honors their late father, Richard Leo White. Hmm. No way.
Well, there you go.
They have locations in Greenfield, Noblesville, McCordsville, Indianapolis, and Lafayette. Leo's eatery. What do you get there? What's the, what's the, uh, what's the order?
You know, and that's the thing. You can go in there and get a lot of different things and they're, it's not cluttered, it's not full of a bunch of garbage and it's just, it's, they're, they're awesome.
The way they, everything, everything in there's Fantastic.
There we go. Alright. If we're up in the, if we're up in the Pendleton or the Anderson area, where do we need to grab lunch?
You know what? I tell you what? That's a good question. I didn't think about that at all. But trust your Butcher steakhouse.
Trust Your Butcher in downtown Anderson.
Trust Your Butcher Steakhouse.
Uh, Ron Ron Lahody's Steakhouse, and that's also Ron Lahody. It is downtown Anderson in the train depot, or the bus depot, I guess I should say. It's a new building down there. Uh, if you want, you want that old fashioned kind of a feel of a Western mixes with, uh, 1930s bar vibe and um, excellent food, phenomenal steaks.
Um, excellent staff down there. I mean, they are, they are. Fantastic. They're not gonna know I had anything to say about that either. That's gonna be a surprise to 'em. Yeah.
I
think all three of them because I just,
I love that one. Okay.
Pop up.
Ron Lahody's Steakhouse. They have one in Anderson and then Muncie. So, and then in Muncie they have Trust your butcher.
Okay. Yeah. Yep,
yep. And then they have Lahody Meats. Yeah. In Muncie. Wow.
That's one y'all check into too.
I'm looking at it. I'm like looking at their Instagram. Yeah. Trust your butcher steakhouse. I'm in on it. Final question for you.
Okay.
Is we, we get guest recommendations and learn about other people with ties to Indiana that are doing inspiring things.
Who's the Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things,
Alex Witham and his, his wife and his family. Um, they, uh, purchased just here not too terribly long ago, A couple years ago. Uh, Bendle Lawn Equipment out of, uh, out of north of Anderson near Alexandria. Uh, they've taken over that business and it was always very successful.
But they're doing a fantastic job behind that. And he's got a fantastic story too. And, uh, good, good people with, uh, that are, that are gonna be, they're major leaders in the lawn care, like equipment side of things. Yeah. Ferris and Toro and some of the other big brand Stihl chainsaws.
Yeah.
I mean, uh, uh, another manly man type of a store to go to, you know, it's, uh, but they've got huge selection and just good faithful, fantastic background, um, values and, uh, they're love them.
I love it, man. This was such a fun conversation to learn more about you guys taking a risk when you were 22 years old, right? And starting
mm-hmm.
Cowpokes in 1993 and then growing. The business for over 30 years. It is so clear and apparent that you care about your customer. It's so clear and apparent that you love what you guys are doing.
Mm-hmm. And, and also getting to grow a legacy family business on the auction side of things too. Sure. After watching your grandfather do that from the 1950s. Yeah. But locally famous since
way back when,
way back when. Uh, Jeff, it's been a pleasure to sit down. If people want to connect with Cowpokes, if they wanna learn about the auction service, where can they find you at?
Well, Cowpokes, you can go to cowpokesonline.com. Uh, that's the easiest way to get some of the basic information for us. Uh, jeffbooneauctions.com, auctions with an s dot com. That'll get you there to our main website where you can get access to everything from our bidding platforms to, uh, contact information.
Yeah, facts and questions answered. So
maybe join in on some live auctions, get some bids going.
Love to,
I mean, we have to start doing that on like Friday afternoons, just like that's, Hey, we have 20 bucks. Let's see what we can pick up on the online auction side of things. Right. Jeff, appreciate it, man. It was a pleasure to get to hang out with you and, uh, we'll talk soon.
Thanks, Nate.
This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate S. Spanel. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get In.
