A before photo of Cavender’s, which reopened its flagship Tyler location Tuesday to reveal a renovated store. Renovations were announced last May.

Cavender’s Boot City reopened its Tyler flagship location after beginning renovations last May.

Cavender’s was founded in 1965 by James and Pat Cavender in Pittsburg. As a country boy in a small Texas town, it was only natural for James to carry cowboy boots.

James bought 7,500 boots from the liquidating Hyer Boot Company in Olathe, Kansas and the 1st Cavender’s store was born in Tyler in 1977.

Today, Cavender’s has established itself as the premier Western clothing store for the American South and Southwest and remains a family business, run by James and Pat’s sons, Joe, Mike and Clay, who oversee the growth, development and day-to-day operations.

Cavender’s Vice President of Merchandising Clay Cavender said the family is excited to share the new look with the community.

“We are so excited for the public to come see our renovations. We opened the doors Tuesday and the customers absolutely love it,” he said.

Cavender also said the remodel makes it more convenient for shoppers with more room to move around.

“More room in the store makes it so much easier for our valued customers to move around and be comfortable while shopping, which is important to us,” he said.

Cavender explained that with close to 100 stores, the businesses were primarily focused on opening new stores and the Tyler renovations were long overdue.

The store was temporarily moved to another location for the nearly year-long remodel.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “We have a great store in Tyler with great inventory and it was time to give it the attention it deserved.”

It’s no wonder with so many stores and amazing products, the Cavender family was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2019.

Cavender said family is what ties the business together and paid tribute to his parents and family members with family photos throughout.

“We wanted to pay a special tribute to our mom and dad and other family members by hanging photos throughout the store to their honor their memory,” he said. “We are a family business and we wanted to be able to share that with our customers.”

Cavender’s Boot City will hold an official grand opening in early May.

Cavender said he can’t wait for the celebration.

“We’re proud to serve the fine people of beautiful Tyler, Texas and surrounding communities and excited to celebrate this new look with them,” he said.

Cavender’s Boot City is located at 2025 West South West Loop 323. Hours of operation are Mon. through Sat. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun. 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit www.cavenders.com.