Old West on East Chestnut: Warren's Tack Shack

Owner: Warren Martyr

Founded: 1996

Address: 2935 E. Chestnut Expressway, Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 869-5336

Fax: (417) 869-9810

Web: www.warrenstackshack.com

E-mail: tackshack1@aol.com

Services: Horse and mule saddle sales, repair and cleaning. Other equestrian accessories are blankets, bits, reins, cowboy hats and riding helmets.

Employees: 2

Lora DeLapp lives west of Republic, but she drives to the east side of Springfield for some very special shopping.

DeLapp, who works in medical administration, is among the loyal customers of Warren’s Tack Shack, 2935 E. Chestnut Expressway, and whenever she needs a saddle or some tack for one of her four horses, she makes the trek. She’s willing to pass up closer and bigger stores because of owner Warren Martyr’s valuable knowledge and good customer service, she said.

DeLapp’s devotion isn’t uncommon among Martyr’s customers.

“He’s always been extremely helpful in finding whatever I’m looking for,” said another longtime customer, Springfield attorney Scott Montgomery.

Warren’s Tack Shack carries saddles, blankets, bits, reins, hats and other equestrian items. While DeLapp enjoys trail riding, Montgomery plays polo and hunts for foxes on his horses. Either way, they’re able to find what they need at Warren’s Tack Shack.

“He has a following,” employee Linda Wyatt said of Martyr.

Wyatt began working two years ago as Warren’s Tack Shack’s lone part-time employee. Wyatt was a frequent customer before Martyr offered her a job.

Active retirement

Martyr has owned horses, but he prefers mules. He’s owned mules for about 25 years and offers the unique service of carrying saddles and tack for mules, though supplies for mules only account for about 10 percent of Tack Shack’s sales.

“(Mules are) very friendly, they’re smooth (and) they’re extremely smart,” Martyr said. “People always thought of them as a work animal, but now they’re realizing that they are a fine riding animal.”

Martyr began selling tack on weekends in 1996 from a trailer as a hobby. A few years later, he decided to close his 30-year-old Warren’s Radiator on Commercial Street so he could open Warren’s Tack Shack as a full-time venture. Three years ago he moved the store to Chestnut Expressway from his Commercial Street building.

Martyr, now 66, said he opened Warren’s Tack Shack because, “It keeps you active, but it’s not something you stress over.” He wanted to slow down and semiretire, he said.

There was a lot to learn about horses after he spent most of his professional life working on cars; he also worked years ago as a nurse in his hometown of Kansas City.

Part of his education included learning how to repair saddles. He shadowed experts around Missouri to learn the trade, but he resisted learning how to make saddles. He said making saddles is expensive and time-consuming, requiring about 40 hours of labor to build one saddle.

Instead, Warren’s Tack Shack carries saddles from American manufactures such as Dakota, American Saddlery and Simco-Longhorn. The store usually has about 100 saddles in stock, ranging in price from $300 to more than $1,000, Wyatt said.

Riding out competition

Martyr declined to disclose revenues or revenue-related information, such as the breakdown between retail and repair work. However, Wyatt had a lighthearted take on the question: “Slightly less than PFI’s revenues,” she joked.

Martyr said he’s not threatened by nearby PFI Western Store, 2816 S. Ingram Mill Road, or other saddle and tack stores with larger selections or more rural locations. Business is good, and he’s happy where he’s at, he said.

“Everybody has competition, (but) I’ve always felt that your worst competition was yourself, because if you do a good job, there’s a place for you,” he said. “If you don’t do a good job, you can say the competition is hard.”