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Potter’s Western Store, the marquee destination for country clothing and an iconic landmark in Columbus remarked their 60year anniversary since their grand opening last Thursday, March 13.
The groundwork for what would eventually become the renowned western store kicked off in October 1964, after a lease was signed to purchase the vacant 3,360foot Schlumberger building from J.D. Seymour Jr. and Sam. K Seymour III. The transformation quickly took place, remodeling the building, painting the inside, removing the shrubs and adding a front porch.
The venture was taken on after Edmund V. Potter, former Police Chief of Columbus, resigned his position to take a gamble at running for Colorado County Sheriff. Edmund unfortunately lost that bid and was out of work following his resignation.
Seeing his brother in a fickle position, Clarence Henry Potter, a former gas station owner of 35-years and at the time solely focusing on ranching, decided to go into business with Edmund, with the idea of providing western wear in an area that had never once seen it before.
Originally known as the Farm & Ranch Store, the location officially opened on January 30, 1965, before their grand opening was held on March 13, 1965, and was originally owned by Clarence, his wife Eloise Potter, his brother Edmund and his wife Laura Belle.
Before the end of the year, Clarence and Eloise became the sole owners of the store after Clarence bought out Edmund’s share of the business, changing the name to Potter’s Western Store.
In 1974, Clarence’s oldest son Clarence Henry, Jr., otherwise known as Henry Potter and wife Pamela Potter moved back to Columbus and purchased the business. Henry and Pamela grew the business from a “small store on the outskirts of town, to a trusted local business and resource in the heart of the community.”
The third generation is now bringing Potter’s into the next “50 years.” Henry and Pamela’s children Charles, Brian, and Amanda are now involved with various parts of the family business, including management, social media, buying, customer service, and the website having grown up working in the store.
Pamela, now running the store with her children after Henry’s death in 2024, says she remembers the grand opening like “it was yesterday,” with 60-years having gone by in the blink of an eye.
“We had our soft launch on January 1 of that year,” said Pamela Potter. “But our grand opening was held on March 13. I remember it like it was yesterday, we served refreshments and invited the whole community to come down.”
In what has been synonymous with their business since it’s birth, Pamela says the store has run ads in the Colorado County Citizen for decades, their current next-door neighbors, with Eloise having made sure to keep the newspaper clippings throughout the years to highlight their history.
Pamela says the store plans on hosting an open house celebration commemorating the milestone and “observance of 60 wonderful years” on Saturday evening, May 3, with food, fun, flashbacks and more.
“We’re talking about renting a tent and putting it on the lot behind us (by the Colorado County Citizen) since we own all that land right here,” said Pamela Potter. “I’ve already talked to Austin’s BBQ in Eagle Lake to maybe do some little sliders for catering. Right now, the plans are maybe about 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. when it’s starting to cool off a little bit. There’s a group at Texas A&M University they have students that are part of a dance team called the Aggie Wranglers, and they have a junior team as well. So, we’re thinking maybe we’ll get them to come out and perform. We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, just trying to get everything gelled up.”
