Preserving the Western Way of Life

The Cow Lot is where cowboys work their cattle and carry out essential ranch tasks. In 1952, Nat Fleming, a young bootmaker, rodeo announcer, and an entrepreneur from North Texas, had a dream. He wanted to provide the cowboys with two essential tools of their trade: a good hat and a pair of well- fitting boots. This dream led to the creation of the Cow Lot, a full-scale Western retail store. Over 54 years, the Cow Lot became known for its dedication to Service, Quality, Honesty, and Integrity.

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Where It All Began

The original store in Wichita Falls, Texas, captured the spirit of the American West and its business practices. Nat Fleming, along with his longtime friend Gene O’Brien and later my father, Dewey Orms, built the Cow Lot into one of the finest Western stores in North Texas. The store received several awards, including the Wendy Ryon Western Retailer of the Year.

Product quality was second only to the integrity of the personalized service. Each salesperson was a genuine cowboy, passionate about serving customers. Whether you were the president of a bank or someone whose property was mortgaged by the bank, you were treated like the King of the Cowboys or the Queen of the Cowgirls.

Art was created before your very eyes by one of Nat’s hired cowhands posing as a salesperson. Hats were shaped to best serve your lifestyle and personality. Boots were fitted. Fit was guaranteed. Prices were affordable. Customer satisfaction was the order of the day.

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In the early 1950s, The Nat FlemingShow" was one of the first local TV programs in Wichita Falls, Texas, providing 30 minutes of entertainment five days a week. This was significant at the time because TV was only broadcast for three hours a day. Everyday at 11:30 Nat’s mother walked down a dirt road in Byers Texas to his brothers’ house to watch his 12:00-12:30 week day broadcast.

Nat also started broadcasting a weekly Saturday morning radio show from the store called "The Nat Fleming Horn Honkin’ Show." When he saw a car drive by, he would ask, "Honk your horn if you are listening!" Ninety percent of the time, the driver would honk and wave. My Mom and I would listen from home. She’d dial the number and I’d ask Nat to play my favorite song, “Heartache by the Lumber”. [Heartaches by the Number- Ray Price]

As the store grew, so did Nat’s inventory and customer base. To him “Fit” was of utmost importance. Nat believed, "If you have to have a license to cut hair, you should have to have one to fit boots and shoes. Your feet won’t grow back!” Sounds logical huh?

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Hats for Legends

Legendary author Larry McMurtry, known for "Lonesome Dove," often visited the Cow Lot. His family ranched in the nearby town of Archer City, Texas, and he would stop by for a cup of coffee and to buy a new pair of boots or a hat.

Longtime Cow Lot general manager JR Gahagan shaped and fitted most of the cowboys who stared in the then-popular and now-famous Marlboro Man advertisements, which were shot on a nearby ranch.

Wichita Falls was also a popular stop for major ‘Country and Western’ artists. Friends of Nat and the Cow Lot included Hank Williams Sr., Little Jimmy Dickens, Slim Whitman, and Ernest Tubb. One of Nat's band members, Buck White, went on to gain fame in Nashville as the band leader of The Whites. Buck's daughter is married to Bluegrass artist Ricky Skaggs.

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A Family Business

Nat met his life partner and wife, Tawana, at the store when she happened in for a new pair of Levis. She still tells the story like this. “I came in looking for a new pair of Levis. The store was new and I could tell they were struggling. The Levis didn’t fit but I bought a pair anyway just to help them out."

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Museum of Northern Texas

After 54 years of dedicated service to his customers, Nat closed the doors to the great retail icon of North Texas and retired to work the real Cow Lot on his ranch in Byers, TX, where he was born and raised. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 96, leaving behind his wife, Tawana, and his son, Marty, who continue to run their cattle operation.

If you ever find yourself in Wichita Falls, Texas, stop in and take a look at the collection of hats with names attached—legends of North Texas who shopped at the store and proudly traded in their old hats to be displayed on the beams of the ceiling.

The Legend Continues

In 2013, with Nat’s blessing, my wife, Karen, and I revived the Cow Lot brand. At the time, our event-based store kept us on the road for 300 days a year—our idea of a "staycation" was a different view from the window of our Motorhome. Our GPS begged for a break. Our passion was—and still is—to continue the tradition of great service, delivering hats that fit and hand-shaping them to match our customers' wants, needs, and, yes, their vanity. Because if your hat doesn't turn heads, is it really doing its job?

At every event we attended, we were invited to another and another: Pendleton, Prescott, Denver National Western, Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo, the NFR, and the World Series of Team Roping, where we set up at South Point’s Cinch Western Gift Show. It was a wonderful life—until Covid hit.

We were in Las Vegas at a Team Roping event when the word came down that all vendors were to pack up as soon as the event was over and head home. Covid was shutting down Las Vegas and the entire world, for that matter. It looked like it could be shutting us down too.

Driving back to Denver, the age-old adage came to mind: "With every adversity comes opportunity." That opportunity came in the form of the internet and online sales. I had firsthand experience with online sales and had seen the internet turn industries on their heads. So, we made up our minds to build a better website and hit social media hard, with a vengeance. That decision turned out to be our saving grace and a real service to Cowboys and Cowgirls who needed a hat but didn’t have a western store close to home—or anyone who could shape a hat the way they wanted it.

Through Gods blessing, trial and error, sweat equity and sheer determination, we managed to reach an even greater audience and spread Nat’s dream to the world. To date, we’ve had visitors to our store from all 50 US states, several European countries, Canada, Australia, and even an order from Ukraine shortly after the war started. We received a thank-you note expressing gratitude for bringing a spot of normalcy amid their chaos.

One of our greatest accomplishments during the Covid years was the development of our Perfect Fit Guide, which allows us to give you the same customized fit you’d get if you were standing in front of us at the steamer. It continues to be our biggest seller.

"Life is like a box of chocolates.” - Forest Gump

Covid restrictions loosened and the world began its recovery. Our on line customers suddenly wanted to come to our ”Store”.  What store? Our warehouse quickly filled the little space we had for customers. Thus came phase 3 of our journey, Brick and Mortar. Karen and I were sure we would never do it again: be trapped within four walls without wheels that we could not drive to the grocery store in.

In 2021, we opened a retail store in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, where customers could select their hat and have it shaped right in front of them.

It wasn’t our idea of a perfect location. It was hard to find and resembled a broken down warehouse. Uber drivers would pull up with out-of-towners and ask, “Are you sure you want me to drop you off here. I’ll be glad to wait until you check it out.” But once they opened the door and felt the old-time western vibe of the Cow Lot they loved it.

Social media, despite its flaws, has connected us with people from all over the world. We’ve experienced everything from marriage proposals in our store to welcoming two girls from Iceland, who made The Cow Lot their first stop in the U.S. They needed hats for their five-day country music tour. On Valentine’s Day, a husband in a Midwestern city woke his wife up, took her to the airport, flew to Denver, and drove straight to The Cow Lot. She had been following us on social media and had commented that she “had to come get a hat at The Cow Lot one day.” These moments are incredibly humbling. We’re so grateful to serve all our customers, no matter where they come from.

Today, in 2024, we’ve moved to a new location at 10890 E47th Ave in Denver, Colorado. This space houses all three parts of our business—online, in-store, and event sales—with an average of 10 employees. The culture remains as it was when Nat Fleming opened the store in 1952, offering the same exceptional customer service at a fair price, and the same dedication to excellence in the art of hand-shaping hats.

Three Generations

At the Cow Lot father learned the art of hat shaping through trial and error. He passed this skill down to me, and now I’ve taught it to my sons, one of whom has a successful hat business of his own, Hats By Parker Thomas, the other is the CEO of our hats shaping school, Hat Masters.com. We are proudly keeping the cowboy tradition and Western lifestyle alive by teaching the art of hat shaping and the old-school Cow Lot way of doing business.

It’s Not Just A Hat It’s a Lifestyle.

It’s not just a hat. It’s your lifestyle that dictates the way you wear your hat.

We understand your passion. Our commitment is to you, your hat, and the way you wear it. Our mission is to carry on Nat’s legacy of Service, Quality, Honesty, and Integrity by delivering your hat, your way.

We appreciate you taking the time to read our story. If you’re already a Cow Lot customer, we welcome you back. If you’re new to The Cow Lot, we’re excited to welcome you in. And if you’re interested in finding out more about us, please stop by the store for a cup full of hospitality passed down through the generations, or give us a call at 720-810-9906. We’ll be glad to walk you through the on-line ordering process.

However you get here we are grateful and appreciative of you. For without you there is no us.

Always sending you our best.

Glenn and Karen Orms, The Cow Lot Owner Operators

“You can tell by lookin’, it came from the Cow Lot.”
— Nat Fleming, Founder, 1952

Learn the Art / Open Your Own Hat Shop

Interested in learning hat shaping as a hobby or career? Visit our Hat Shapers School website to discover how you can master the craft and shape your future. www.HatMasters.com

“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”