Inside Henderson’s Hat District

As seen in D Magazine: The rugged McKinney Hat Company and the bachelorette-ready Rancher Hat Bar opened within months of each other on Henderson Avenue. They’re more alike than you might think.

You would think that Dallas, given the name of its most famous sports team and the costuming of its eponymous ’80s soap opera, would have a cowboy hat shop on every corner. It does not, but one block is overcompensating. On Henderson Avenue, at the section right off Central Expressway, you’ll find two boutiques selling high-quality hats that can be customized to fit your style and head shape, though each is courting a dramatically different customer.

The popular street is in a state of flux. The majority of Henderson is blocked off for the construction of a massive, mixed-use project led in part by Tristan Simon (the Dallas restaurateur behind Billy Can Can). The trippy, towering Wonder Bar has been demolished, making way for new local haunts like The Charlotte and Read Shop. But there is one relatively quiet corner of Henderson where change happens swiftly. Within the concentration of shops and restaurants right off Central Expressway (where Knox becomes Henderson), you’ll find two new cowboy hat stores, both alike in dignity—but quite dissimilar in presentation.

On one side of the road is McKinney Hat Company, a no-frills purveyor of stalwart cowboy hat brands like Stetson and Resistol. On the other side sits Rancher Hat Bar, which welcomes shoppers with a candy-colored wall of hats ready to customize. The former, the second location of a downtown McKinney-based store, displays sepia-toned portraits of mustachioed cowboys and a half-poured handle of Bulleit Whiskey. The latter, the seventh outpost of a California-based brand, plays EDM remixes of Kane Brown or Rodney Atkins and has bedazzled torches to heat branding irons.

It’s easy to point out the whiplash a person can experience going between the two shops. What’s more interesting is how much McKinney Hat Company and Rancher Hat Bar are actually alike. Both offer elaborate customization, including leather hatbands, ribbons, feathers, and branding. (Rancher also has a bolo tie bar filled with turquoise and charms.) Both stores cater to corporate and personal events with large groups. And though the milliners that McKinney Hat Company carries have stronger name recognition, Rancher has assembled a quality list of vendors, including Garland-based Master Hatters and Bowie-based American Hat Company. Both stores offer a 100X fur felt hat made with beaver—Stetson’s $1,300 El Presidente hat at McKinney and a custom-order option starting at $1,200 at Rancher. (Generally speaking, the higher the “X” rating, the higher the quality, though there is famously no industry-wide standard in the cowboy hat world.)

When asked, each store stated their respect for the other, though one store manager noted “a totally different vibe.” Ultimately, both aim to fill a void in a city that has surprisingly few hat stores, and offer an approachable place for anyone—cowboy or not—to find his or her perfect fit.

They just so happened to do it right across the street from each other.

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