Monday, December 5, 2011

Holiday Season!

Shop small is the word. Small business day celebrated all over the US is this week right after Thanksgiving. Remember your miniature hat in a Hatbox, Cowboy Sack, Western Tissue, DVD's full color catalog and the rest of the custom fitting is up to us. If you want a personalized gift, we can make it. Call us and talk to Chely, Terri or whoever answers. We are open Monday thru Friday 8 to 5 Mountain Standard time. Check out our new gift certificates.
 Winter is here, here in Montana we have a few inches of snow and the Temperature was a chilly 5 degrees. It got up to 34 degrees today. I talked to my friend in Fort Worth, Tx today, and it was in the 70's. No wonder all the best team ropers in the world live in Texas. 
The Cowboy Christmas show in Vegas starts on Dec 1st through the 10th located at the Las Vegas convention center. Rand's booth number is 560. I will be on duty along with Jorge, Kelly, and Cathy. Please come see all our new hats.
 We also created bar codes for ever ones smart phones, so that you can scan it and up pops our latest video. We have new post cards, of the Rancho Deluxe collection coming out this week. I will get them posted for you all to see in the next few days. Watch for our hats on Larry's Country diner on Cable RFTD. Reminds me of the old He Haw show we did for many years with Buck Owens.
 We are working on a lot of Great Cowboy designs for some new ads in conjunction with a very large clothing company for 2012. Our hats are all over the J L Powell USA catalog.
 
 
                                                   Happy Trails From Montana  
 
                                                            Ritch  R.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Letter for YOU!

Dear Rand hat friends.
Fall is here and we now look forward to the NFR, our new hats, and hat bands for the show in Las Vegas. (Dec. 1st - 10th). I just returned from Denver Market and we are excited for a great fall and winter. Our dealers are very excited about the new Rancho Deluxe hats. Rands will have samples and pictures from the saddle club collection coming soon to our blog and face book.
We are stocking many colors and styles for Christmas at Black Bear Trading Company in Telluride Colorado.
The ranch at Rock Creek has a new store and a lot of Rand's hats for the guests. Look up Guest Ranch on the internet as it is over the top. You can really get away in style. We started working with them a year ago and they now have had a great season and lots of chances to abuse the Hats at the Ranch.
I was asked to do an interview on t.v. the other day and for those who don't know there ARE two 4's on your alarm clock. I needed to be at the Studio by 5:45 AM. I live 35 miles from town. It turned out good for the hat shop and I appreciate our customers who want to know more about the hat making process. I still have a great passion for this business.
I am going to Cody, Wyoming one day this next week to see Seidel's Saddlery. Keith, the owner, works with the Buffalo Bill Museum in producing a special piece of art work in leather every year. Keith and Lisa also own and run a beautiful Store in Downtown Cody, if you ever go, it is right next to the Famous Irma hotel. This is where Buffalo Bill Cody always Stayed.  
We are starting a sampling process at Beth West in Clear View, Washington. Don't worry; it is just a neat western store in and close to Seattle. Lance the owner has a passion for Hats. www.bethwest.net.  Watch for the Rand hats there soon.  We are now designing some new hats for this store. We let Lance pick and help design as well. I will be in Seattle for a few days and the end of this month. My son Ben and I will get to catch up as he lives there. He grew up in the hat business and is a man who can really give a hat the test in the outdoors. 
Rand's is having a lot of trouble with the fine fur felt this year. It seems to have gone way up in price, but down in quality. Our prices to the customer have changed very little. Our hand selected sweatbands made from the best leather we can get, is thru the roof. We are very selective and it is a narrow field to choose from. That is if you don't want the parts of your hat made and imported from a country you cannot pronounce. 
Everybody needs to go to Barnes and Nobel and ask for the Montana Magazine. There are some great things to see and do in Montana, and of course, a new article about our love of the hat business.    
Also read and see our newest hat in the September issue of JLPowell magazine.   www.JLPowellusa.com  this is a wonderful catalog for the Sporting life. Call them and ask for a catalog or look them up. You will be amazed at the quality of goods. I bought a sweatshirt from them the other day and the packaging was worth the order.
Watch for the new Schaefer Ranch Wear catalog for October. They have a lot of outdoor and cowboy gear.  www.schaeferranchwear.com    Rick and Lynn Grant are the owners and you can call or write them and get any answers you might have about their clothing and gear. By the way all MADE IN THE USA. 
One question that is always asked is, “can you get color swatches from us”. YES, YES and YES
Call or write us for your choices and questions. Monday thru Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM  Mountain time in the USA. 
Watch for our new interactive ad in the cowboy way.  
Happy Trials for now! My dog (Annie) is chasing the Wild turkeys and the horses need to be fed.
Be sure to write us with your comments and pictures. 
Happy Birthday to our good friend Josh.... 
 
          
 
                                               From the Ranch in Montana   
                                                       Thanks   Ritch 

Quick customer letter

Thank you for taking care of my request to have my hat resized and delivered
by the end of October. Your customer service has been the best, and I
appreciate it so much. 


If you can, I would like a catalog sent with the hat.
I plan to order another one of your hats soon. 


Thank you again


 Masato

Thursday, September 22, 2011

One quick thought

 There is no self service at Rand's
Would you like your hat Good, Quick or cheap?   (PICK TWO) 




Ritch

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Quick post for today

Rich,

Congratulations on the nice feature article in the latest Montana Magazine.
Very nice.

I can't wait for you to be done with my new Sporting Clays hat!!

Cheers!
 

 Mark LaRowe

Monday, August 29, 2011


A customer calls us the other day and started in with a story that is unreal. He’s a customer that ordered a hat six years ago and after placing his order he gets in a serious Horse wreck. Now he can't remember who he is when he wakes up every morning. Six years later his wife was cleaning out the guest room and was getting ready to throw away his old rand hat box when she saw the box and remembered they had a hat on order. Of course we had modified his hats somewhere along the line during the past years but, we had his hat intact still waiting for him…..Only in Montana.
 
                                                                    Ritch

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Update


Dear Hat Fans and Customers,
What a busy few weeks we have had here in Billings.  We’ve had even more tornado warnings, and a lot of rain in the middle of the day. It’s still summer here and the horses are enjoying the summer pasture. Since Montana had a record spring rain fall and winter snow pack, the rivers have finally gone down to normal levels. The county has finally, about two weeks ago, removed the sand bags from the side of our Bridges. 
Our friends from Switzerland at Western Art Outfitters came for their annual hat buying visit. Kurt and his family, always have a big smile on their faces and bring a lot of stories to our shop. They stayed in Montana for a week this time. We enjoyed the time they spent in our shop. They want to have a street party in 2012 at his store. He would invite 200 of his closest friends. Kudos to our friend Kurt and his Store.
Our friends from Reis Ranch in California were in Billings for a two day horse training seminar. Be sure to catch his no dust tour. RFD TV and all the rest is on his web site at reisranch.com. His summer clinics are everywhere. I personally have attended his clinic's for 20 years and always learn something new. Any horse and any problem, Dennis is on it.
The first week of this month, August, we were helping all the PBR customers for a big PBR event in Billings. This draws a huge crowd from all over the Planet. Rand's worked a lot of days in a row to take care of a huge crowd for this event.
Next week we are hosting a private party in Napa, California for the stomp wine growers. Myself and one other staff member will be in St Helena, California at the range mercantile for a opening event, also in San Francisco for a private event. We are being hosted by the Napa wine company on Friday night for a private show in Yountville. If anybody needs to be fitted call my store and we will try to meet up with you while we’re in your area.
We will Be in Denver for the market at the Denver Merchandise Mart on Sept. 9th, 10th, and 11th  So if you need a private fitting call us.
We are working with a new account in the Seattle area for new designs and stock hats. We will update you on this store as we go.
Watch for our hats in the new JL Powell USA catalog coming out in the next few weeks for fall  Great sporting hats www.jlpowellusa.com 
Watch for a special addition hat in the Schaefer Ranchwear Catalog in the fall www.schaefer-ranchwear.com 
Last but not least we are shipping some custom hats to ORVIS for the made in USA store. I will update everyone on this in the next couple of weeks. ORVIS wanted some Rand's hats custom made for a project on the East Coast.
I will be in Park city Utah for the fall. I will update everyone on that also. See our hats a Burns cowboy shop in Park city. 
Ask for Jake or Stephanie and they will make sure you are taken care of.
Send in some real pictures so we can post them and let everyone see our friends on the road.
Thanks to Dave, Austin, Terri, Chely, Katie, Randy, Luke, Josh, Jorge, Kelly, Steve, Yank and our new trainee Cathy. You will meet some of these people in our store and on the road. All of our friends and employee's are a great support staff for Rand's to bring you the customer the best hat on the planet.
From Montana at the Ranch 
Ritch R.       

Monday, July 11, 2011

KVRE Radio

Dear Ritch,


You did a great job on the hat:  It looks great and fits perfectly.


I'll be going to the Memphis Film Festival next week in Olive Branch, Mississippi. It's a gathering of western fans from all over the country. I'll be proudly wearing my new hat and I'm sure to get some compliments on it. If you'll send me a few of your business cards I'll be happy to pass them out. I leave on June 1st.


Yours truly,


Tom Nichols, Owner
KVRE Radio

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

  Friends and Family,

 We were in Bishop California for Mules Days and oh my, you should have seen the 20 mule team pulling the old freight wagons. This is a wonderful sight if you ever have the chance. You will remember this like watching the Budweiser horses perform.  It’s amazing to see the Mules at this level. We also had a lot of customers from all over California, and Nevada. Some brought us treats, thanks for that! Of course we had a great time and fitted lots of friends for some new hats. 


Oh my Diesel was $5.29 a Gallon there. It almost pushed me over the edge. I really was trying to figure out how to be more like Fred Flintstone.


We have a lot of new designs; Low Safari, Rancho Deluxe, a new Drover for the outdoor enthusiast. You can see these on our new postcards and watch our new video on the web site.


We are involved with some exciting new hats for Burns cowboy shop in Park city Utah, and Carmel by the Sea California.


We will be in Napa Valley, California later this summer. We will update everyone as we get closer.


I will be in Denver at the Old west show and auction June 25th, 26th, and 27th, at the Denver Merchandise Mart on exit 58th right off the interstate. Rand's has a showroom #4543 there. We’ll have a lot of hat samples, it will be easy to fit and show anyone our hats. If anyone would like to visit just e-mail me for an appointment and you can stop, get fitted, and try on samples. 


We have so much Rain in Montana that it is flooding everywhere, and 200% above normal snow pack. There will be lots of hay for the horses.


That’s all for now


Calls us 1-800-346-9815


Happy Trails from Montana


Ritch Rand

Customer Letter

Just got back home from Billings and from acquiring my new hat.

Words cannot express my satisfaction with one of the best buying experiences in my 74 years. The professional way I was treated and the service I received was beyond compare.

I especially want to thank Randy, Luke and Chely for making me feel welcome and for providing just the help I needed. To find out that I was able to walk out with just the hat I was looking for was a super experience.

Please thank these folks for being just what any customer could ever hope for.

I surely will be a continued customer because of a great product and of even greater assistance from your employees.

Thanks again.

Cheers.... Ell & Carol Bennett

Friday, June 10, 2011

Customer Letter

Greetings you lucky mountain folks,
Randy,


        The UPS guy just dropped it off minutes before I left for lunch.  WOW.....What a hat.  Ya' done good pod'na.  It's a beauty, snake bonz n' all.  Wore her to town for lunch and everybody noticed I had a new hat.  Since I'm only one of two guys around town that wear western hats, I guess I stick out in the crowd.


She fits like a million bucks too.  Don't throw that gizmo fitting machine away, that things priceless. When you stuck that old thing on my head I wasn't sure, but I can tell you right now, this baby fits so perfect it's a fifty-mile an hour hat. No need for a stampede string on this rascal.

When I mount up on my 17h Percheron Draft Mule (black w/ nice points) in this hat at the Memorial Day Parade....No plain old quarter horse outfit will beat us.  Hee-hee   Awe...ya' know us broom-tail guys....always brag'n.
Randy....I can't thank you enough.  You made it just as you told me, and as I pictured it.  This has moved into first place as my favorite of some twenty some hats I own. Although I must tell you.  The old hat you restored for me and made into a "Festus Hagen" hat has brought me the most complements of all my hats.  Everywhere I go they ask where I got the good look'n hat.  I purchased that old hat from Rod's Western Wear in ColumbusOhio during the Quarter Horse Congress some twelve years ago.  My wife's been wanting to throw it away for years, but you gave it a second life and as I said, I've gotten more complements on that old hat since you "restyled her."  Just perfect for an old wanna-be Festus muleskinner like me.
I'm telling you.  You should think about adding a "Festus" to your Gus, Tom Mix, and Tom Horn hat line.  Just try a couple and see.  I was in Columbus right after you sent it back to me buying cars at the auction and stopped by Rod's on the way home.  As I walked by the hat department the manager said, "Nice hat, where'd ya' get it."  I laughed and said, "Right here."  He said, "No way."  Then I told him how you had restored my old hat.  Even he liked the style, so you guys might want to think about hang'n one on the wall there just to see if it draws flies or a customer.
Speaking of Rod's.  You should contact them to be a dealer, for he's the largest vender at the Quarter Horse Congress.  It's one heck of a horse show, the largest in the world and lasts 28 days.  Shorty has a booth there every year so she must sell a few hats there.  Rod stocks a lot of hats but only a few high end hats, and nothing like yours.  I'll be more than happy to demo (show-off) my new hat to them if you think you'd want to make him a dealer.  You need somebody in Ohio, and Columbuswould be perfect.
Well it's snowing like crazy, got over 13" last night, (lake effect snow from Lake Erie) so I'm heading down to the barn to hitch up my mule girls to the sleigh.  I'll be able to give this hat a forty mile an hour test by sunset.
Randy....Thanks so much from "Rooster" the one-eyed fat man of MedinaOhio
Tim Godard

Customer Letter

This is Jacky Wilkins from N.C. My wife Tammy, my friend Francis, and myself came into your store last week while we were on vacation. I have been looking at your catalog for a while, but never would commit to ordering because I am very particular about my hats and didn't want to order something without trying it on and seeing what it looks like on me. I never thought I would have the opportunity to actually come to Montana and visit your store. Luke spent a lot of time helping us decide on what we like and was very patient in listening to what we are looking for. My hat fits perfect! The more I wear it, the better I like it. I get a lot of comments about how great it looks. I just wanted Luke to know how much we enjoyed the time we spent in your store, and how pleasant the experience was with him and the staff. I will be sure to tell everyone about how great your company has been to my friends and me. I will be calling Luke shortly to order my wife's hat. The visit to your store was one of the highlights of my Montana experience that I will always remember. Thanks Luke, You've been great!

Monday, May 23, 2011

From the Road

We are sending some hats for the Ranchero's this May, and that’s always a fun group of riders whom only get together to compare notes once a year. We are involved in the Pikes Peak riders on the third week of June. Good luck to Mike S. on the ride, as it might be a little rainy in the mountains. Speaking of rain, Oh my gosh, Billings and Montana are setting records. We had 3 inches in the first week of May and 2 inches on one day this week. Our poor friends at the Miles city bucking horse sale, 9 inches in about one week. What a test for our hats. If you have never been you should go as it is a huge world famous outdoor Rodeo and Bucking horse event in, Miles City, Montana.
I am on the way to the World Famous Mule Days in Bishop, California. Look it up as they have a parade that is about two hours long, and twenty mule teams and the best mules in rodeo. I encourage everyone to go. It’s a little town about 4 hours outside of Reno, with a huge event. Jorge and I will be there helping fit our customers. Customers from all over the planet come to this event. It starts Wed. May 25th and goes through the 30th. Then we will be back home in Billings. We have a couple of special events in June. Go to our web site and be sure to look at our new video. Send us some favorite pictures for our postcards. Our customers love real pictures.
We are putting a new steamer and custom shop in the ranch at Rock Creek. What a place. www.Ranchatrockcreek.com We also are scheduling an event for August at our new outlet in California. I will update you on this event in St. Helena, California. Range Merchantile, operated by Susan and Debbie Gantz, is a great upscale store that will be stocking and steaming our hats.


From the Road  
                                                                                    Ritch  

Monday, April 11, 2011

New and Improved Catalog Viewing!

Rand's is very lucky to have our catalog on an epaperflip program. Click on “Catalog Request” in the left sidebar on our web site, and then click the “Click for Catalog” link near the center of your screen. Once you see this new catalog you will be amazed. You will have the ability to flip through the pages, zoom in and out to read small text, view it in a slideshow mode, e-mail it to a friend, and even download the .pdf file to save it directly to your computer.
Watch for us in the New Ranch & Reata magazine, with more than a hundred pages of real west articles, pictures and people. And be sure to subscribe. This is the other magazine that is really bringing back some western history and articles. Look for the Cowboy way, you won't be disappointed. 
Our Hat shop continues to be involved in cutting, reining and other horse activities. We had a great family fun day for all this first week of April at a new indoor arena nearby, and thanks to a weird spring snow storm of about 12 inches, we had to put our hats to the Rand's waterproof test. Guess what, it still works and we survived the snow and melting mess. With any outdoor activity, our pure, beaver, fur, felt takes a beating and keep on, well you know...
Watch for a bunch of new customer pictures on our home page. 
                                                                           
                                                                   Happy Trails for now
                                                                          Ritch R

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Rough Trip to Vegas

 Dear friends and Rand Hat Customers,
This year started early with our trip to Cowboy Christmas in Las Vegas. The National Finals Rodeo is always a great experience with hundreds of thousands of cowboys and cowgirls.

After packing and loading for the Road to Vegas, it started snowing. Well this is nothing new after making hats in Montana for over THIRTY years. We are used to Montana weather. About an hour out of town the freeway was closed because of a white out. Big truck, trailer and four wheel drive, only 900 miles to go.

Twenty Four hours later I finally got to Salt Lake City. This was only supposed to be an 8 hour drive! Traffic was unreal. Because of the storm you would have thought there was a mass evacuation. Two lanes of traffic and the worst weather I had driven in for many years.  

I decided to stop and have lunch with my friend Randy Brooks in Mona, Utah which is just outside of Salt Lake City. Randy who is a great friend, customer, and team roper showed me his new barn, horses etc. It started snowing again. Another 14 inches of snow fell. With the freeway closed again we felt like we would never get to Vegas. Two days later I finally arrived.  The 200 Hat samples for the show are safe and sound. Unfortunately we had a broken windshield and mud from bumper to bumper. I get in line the next day to let the Union in Vegas allow me into the convention Center.

You need plenty of patience for this, because when you own a little company the Union doesn’t give you as much flexibility as a big dog. Seven hours later they finally let me in to another line to get our displays inside. Finally the next day my friend and employee Jorge arrives in Vegas and we began the set up and steaming of the hats. 

Vegas was full of great customers from all over the planet. And the Rodeo was great, with the best talent on earth. If any of you out there have not been, go. It is a sold out event in the city of bright lights. You will not be disappointed. 

There are so many of our customers that have become ours friends it made our time on the road a lot better. 

So, now to continue to catch you up, January brought us the Safari Club International show, Reno Convention Center. This will be our 23rd year with this group and the people from all over the world, Europe, Africa and almost every place in between. We had great conversation with customers from Cuba, and South Africa. It really is a great experience every year. The wild life exhibits are like no other place.

I finished a dozen new hat styles and hat bands for our new outdoor collection, some Safari styles ,and some new Saddle club collection hats. Watch “Under Wild Skies” on cable and you will see our hats. We have a new special on the Outdoor channel and we have a video of us making hats. You can order it from us and, we will mail it on a DVD or flash drive. The video contains all of our new collections. My friend Josh whom works on many projects with us throughout the year has been in overload on the new Saddle Club collection, which is now very western and is now being sold in all places of the earth. Thanks to Josh for his artistic talent and drive in helping us finish this collection. We have not loaded all the pictures on the web site yet, but will be there soon, available on a DVD.  I just need to get Austin to load some more for us.  You will soon be able to turn through the pages of the catalog without us mailing you a thing. We are going to cut down on our postage bill, and give you all instant selection in page by page views.

We had a great exhibit at Denver for the WESA wholesale market; this is in January every year during Stock show. Be sure to look for a dealer near you on our dealer list.

We went down the Road to Reno convention Center for the FNAWS, which we have been supporting for over twenty years. We also are active members of the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation. 

Look for us at Bishop Mule days which is the largest Mule show in the US. They have a parade there that is large enough to take up about 2 hours of our time every year. It is a small town (Bishop California) with a large event. 

This event is Memorial Day weekend every year. We have a lot of customers from California and Nevada that attend and you will see Mules from all over the US. being shown and sold.

The road warriors are wearing thin this year because of all the diesel prices being so high, and the airline seats keep getting smaller and the air travel is more difficult. 

We will have a big trunk show in Switzerland for 2012 and will update everybody on that as we go. 
             
Since this will be our first blog, watch for updates soon. Don't forget we are open Monday through Friday Mountain time, if you need to call. I will personally call you after hours if you need.
                                                                                
 Ritch and the Rand crew    

Hat Number 5

Greetings Everyone,
I received my 5th hat today. #57 gunslinger. Like the others..."Perfect".


Thanks,
Frank Hudson

Customer Letter

Dear Chely,


I recently sent you a hat of mine to be resized and to have the brim reshaped. You folks did a great job with it...including the new hat liner.


This note is to let you know that I have two more hats that are a little long and need to be re-sized. The second hat is slightly long and would fit wonderfully if it could be resized the same as the last hat you fixed for me. I will be sending it along.


Thank you very much for helping me out the way you do. I appreciate all the effort you make to see that I get the hat I want.


I appreciate Randy's experience and skill. I proudly wear his fine work every time I put on the "roof" and leave the house for the day. When I go out, for whatever reason...I am wearing a Rand's hat.


My thanks to all of you.


Todd Houser
Cypress, CA