Double D Western World

Wickenburg, Arizona - a far off place to find a large, thriving Western store. Current census estimates the town's residents to number approximately 5,000. Yet, set in central Arizona not far from nearby cities and amongst the country's most popular dude ranches, sits Double D Western World.

For more than 12 years, Berva Botts and her husband Creed, have been providing residents and visitors of Wickenburg with a wide array of products. One-stop shopping might be an easy way to describe the store - with merchandise on the upper level that includes apparel, boots, gifts, home furnishings, jewelry, art work, and a lower level that offers a variety of saddles, tack, supplements and just about anything else you can imagine that's required for the horse owner.

Before Berva and Creed became entrepreneurs in Western retail, they raised thoroughbreds. For many years, Berva's husband and her father worked raising thoroughbred racehorses at a farm near Wickenburg and at another in California. Between the two locations, the farms housed between 300 and 350 horses, 60 of which were usually in training at any given time. The horses raced at tracks across the United States, in such states as Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, and California. "So with that we had to buy saddles, and horse blankets for the winter and so on" Creed said. "You had to buy 60 or 80 of them."

The idea for a store grew out of love and necessity, Creed said. With so many horses, the farms had to find places to literally buy truckloads of tack. Other ranchers and farms in the area had the same needs. As a result Berva opened a 1,000 sq ft tack shop on the Wickenburg farm. Double D, which came from the partners' names in the horse-training operation, became a name in Western retail 17 years ago.

Once Berva and Creed started witnessing the steady demand for tack and supplies, the retailing genes in their family history started to take hold. Berva's father owned a chain of grocery stores in Nevada. Creed had been a cowboy all his life training horses, and he had 28 years of retail work on his resume as well.

Wickenburg is the dude ranch capitol of the world. Creed and Berva saw a need of going into the clothing market with hats, boots and all of the accessories one would need for a store. It was a gamble in a town with a population of 5,000.

To jump into retail full-time required moving Double D off of the farm and into town. Over 12 years ago, Berva and Creed built the store at the current site, leaving the basement unfinished for further expansion. As Creed and Berva began to raise a family, they came to a crossroads in their careers. The road life that came with the job worked well when their children were younger, but as they grew, it became more of a struggle. In 1998 the family got out of raising horses to focus full time on retail.

Today the basement of their store is finished, which includes all of the store's tack items, as well as equine products, accessories, and numerous livestock needs. The basement has a drive-up entrance with a full assortment of livestock feeds that can be loaded onto their customers vehicles.

In all, the store features 24,000 square feet of space - which continues to grow as the renovated retail floor slowly creeps into the existing office space.

Berva and Creed have not limited the store to just Western. There is a lot of Southwest flavor, and many specialty items. You can come into the store and buy a $19 rein, as well as a thousand dollar hat or a $50,000 original art piece by Ray Swanson.

In response to a growing market, Double D has adapted for specific customer requests. For instance, 3 years ago an artwork and custom framing center was installed. Prints can be bought and framed right in the store. Customers may also bring in art prints or posters of their own for framing. At about the same time, a small corner on the lower level was renovated to make space for a full-service Archery shop including bows, arrows and all the accessories required for bow-hunting. Two years ago the floor upstairs was re-arranged to make room for a new furniture line with Western styling that includes couches, love seats, chairs, leather trunks and sofa tables.

Enjoy your time while browsing through our store, and if you are ever out Wickenburg Way, stop in and say Hi - we would love to meet you.