Seven years after buying Sheplers, Boot Barn to open a second Wichita store

Seven years after purchasing Sheplers — both the company and the Wichita store — California-based Boot Barn Holdings is opening a second Boot Barn in Wichita.

This one will be 12,000 square feet in the former Famous Footwear space at Eastgate Plaza, at Kellogg and Rock Road. That’s next to Five Below and several doors east of T.J. Maxx.

In addition to boots, the store sells other western wear.

Wichita’s first Boot Barn opened in the former Sheplers at 6501 W. Kellogg, which longtime Wichitans remember for its long history in the city.

The Sheplers chain began when J.W. Gibson opened Gibson Harness Co. in what the Sheplers website called “a modest storefront in Wichita, Kansas,” in 1899.

Then, in 1946, Harry Shepler carried a brown paper bag with $25,000 down Wichita’s Main Street to buy the business.

At the time, the store — which was where the Sedgwick County Courthouse is now — sold harnesses and tack. Shepler called it Harry Sheplers Saddle and Leather Co.

In 1961, he built the 10,000-square-foot store on West Kellogg.

The business underwent several name changes through the years, eventually becoming known simply as Sheplers when it was owned by the Dry family in the late 1960s through the mid 70s.

The company also has had a few ownership changes, including when Jabara Ventures Group and about 70 employee shareholders sold the company to Gryphon Investors in 2007. Gryphon sold to Boot Barn in 2015.

No one with Boot Barn had an immediate comment on the new store.

David Boyd of Walter Morris Cos. handled the deal for the Eastgate space.

Look for the store to open around mid-February.

This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 4:47 AM.