Friday, April 26, 2024
COWGIRLPRENEUR: Ali Dee has built a brand that suits the modern cowgirl’s sense of style, from T-shirts to home décor.
GLIMPSE OF YESTERYEAR: Terra Burdette, manager of the renovated Vintage Drugstore, holds a photo of the store from days gone by.
MERCHANTS AT THE MERCANTILE: Some of the vendors at the Vintage Drug Store were on hand for this month’s spring sale. From left, Rhona Ryan, Terra Burdette, Ali Dee, Shelby Johnson, Judy Whitefield, Brenda Strickland.
A JEWEL IN DOWNTOWN TOLAR: Resurrecting this old drugstore into a trendy fashion boutique and event venue was a years-long but very rewarding process. Ali Dee had the vision and made it happen.
TOLAR — We are sitting in a 100-year-old drugstore, now a cozy boutique. When people enter the space, the first thing they do is look up at the high ceiling. Visitors are awestruck because they are walking into a beloved landmark, restored.
“And then they look down and think ‘I’m ready to shop!’” said Ali Dee, owner of the Vintage Drugstore in downtown Tolar.
She is being modest.
At the top of the outer façade, the red brick with the painted “Drug Store” remains the same. The rehabbed space inside has those tall ceilings and warm wood plank floors. The walls are finished in plaster with exposed original stone. The original wooden cabinets line the walls. Scattered throw rugs and cowhides on the floor add to the ranch house vibe.
Light streams in from the front windows. Shoppers can browse merchandise from vendors who are all women, all local. T-shirts with slogans such as “More Howdy Less Hate” and “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” are rounded out with a variety of on-trend cowgirl couture. Don’t overlook the home furnishings for the Western lifestyle – pillows, candles, wall art. There are easy chairs around the store, perfect for sitting a spell. There is a large fitting room and a “runway” down the middle of the store so patrons can show off their look.
NEW KIND OF ENTREPRENEUR
Ali is sitting across from me near the original glass counter with photos of the old drugstore on display inside it. She is taking a break from tax time to talk about the ins and outs of her business.
This self-described “cowgirlpreneur” does a lot more than rehab old buildings. She rattles off everything under her umbrella: the Vintage Drugstore; the Ali Dee collection clothing lines for men, women and toddlers; a showroom at the Dallas Market Hall; a media and sales company called Western Life and Style. She also mentions her 16th season as arena host with the Dallas Mavericks, her sixth with the Dallas Cowboys as the pre-game host, and some Western sports reporting, to boot.
Throw in former NBA dancer, country singer, mother of two young children (a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old) and ranch mom for bull rider husband Cory Melton’s stock contracting business, and you get a pretty good idea of how this cowgirl has turned everything she touches into gold. Or pink.
Yes, that’s her vividly pink building just down the street from The Vintage Drugstore. Under that tin roof is a busy office and warehouse where her team prints and ships graphic T-shirts, hoodies and ball caps in the popular Ali Dee, Howdywood and Rodeo Ranch lines.
“I've always liked to do a lot of different things. I’ve never just been a one-trick pony.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
It started when she would make her own T-shirts to wear to football games. “I just kind of loved the creative side of it…. It was self-expression right there in your face.”
Early on while touring as a singer/songwriter, Ali noticed that the merchandise she sold at concerts often paid better than the singing did. “It wasn't necessarily about having my name plastered on the T-shirt but like a cute design (that someone) would want to wear all the time and maybe my name is small.” That opportunity led her into building the brands she has today.
She said, “I'm always focused on improving what I have going instead of, you know, dropping it and trying to look for the next shiny thing. I’ve had employees with me a long time – there's very little turnover because we're just constantly improving as opposed to looking for the next best thing.” She is constantly asking them, “How can we make the brand better? What can we do to improve quality? What can we do to improve sales?”
SMALL TOWN TEXAS
Why did she and her husband choose to settle down in Tolar about 12 years ago?
Ali said, “My husband drew a 60-mile ring around DFW Airport. He travels a lot.”
Tolar was a place inside the circle that had everything they wanted.
“It wasn't that long ago, but (back then) it was way less populated,” she said.
Tolar Mayor Terry Johnson was present for the ribbon cutting at The Vintage Drug Store on March 18. He is thrilled that Ali and her husband are such a presence in the town.
“We need more people like them!” Johnson said.
Ali agrees. She thinks that Tolar should have a few more options to give people something to do.
“There's so many cute little spots still left to be rehabilitated,” she insisted. “I think it'll be really nice to see when people start rehabbing these spots (in Tolar)… because it's growing here so fast.”
RENOVATING A CLASSIC
Back to the Vintage Drugstore. What drove her to bid on a dusty old building, vacant for many years, with nearly everything wrong with it?
“I was obsessed with this building… Just picture the scariest, most haunted looking thing in the entire world. That's what this building was, but I saw the windows… and I just had the vision for it,” she said.
Ali’s vision took a few years to manifest but it finally happened.
“It still is very quirky and has its little things, but for the most part, I'm really happy with the way it feels. Still feels old,” she said.
Once it was done, the Vintage Drugstore started being a site for occasional special events but after a Christmas market with local merchants, Ali and store manager Terra Burdette decided to go full-time with a mercantile.
Terra, a 21-year-old Tolar High School graduate and rising star in Ali Dee’s business, has a head for fashion merchandising, and is absorbing all she can. “There’s no better person for me to learn from than Ali…. I pick her brain all the time.” Terra is learning fast, too. She said, “We were going to be closed on Mondays, but people kept looking in the windows. I was already here, changing things around in the store, so why not be open so they could shop?”
For the grand opening, Terra turned it into a mini street fair. She arranged for a wood-fired pizza truck and a snow cone stand to park in front of the store for the day. People came and shopped in good numbers. A Tolar tradition was reborn.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS
Ali Dee shows no sign of hanging up her saddle. Why would she? The brand began in 2013, and now her merchandise is sought after by more than 2,000 Western wear stores, such as Shepler’s and Boot Barn, as well as available for retail and wholesale online and at the Vintage Drugstore.
Ali’s biggest strength is her vision and that team behind her.
She said, “I’m probably the most talented at the big picture. And then I hire some really amazing people that can activate all the things I have going in my brain…. (My) team is just so strong. I could never do it without them. There's just no way.”
MORE INFORMATION
Visit www.thevintagedrugstore.com and www.alideecollection.com for more information. The Vintage Drugstore is at 8706 W. Highway 377 in Tolar.
