The tale of the 8-foot cowboy boot in the Italian Market and the store owner who put it there

The first thing Alfonso Aramburo wanted to put on the sidewalk in front of his new Western wear store on Washington Avenue in the Italian Market was a life-size fiberglass horse. He had one outside of his store in Alabama years ago and it attracted a lot of attention.

But his wife had a different suggestion.

“‘Why you don’t bring a boot this time, because you don’t sell stuff for horses — you sell boots,’” Aramburo recalled.

That’s how an 8-foot tall, 6-foot long, 250-pound fiberglass cowboy boot came to be bolted to the sidewalk outside of Aramburo’s store, Viejo Oeste #2, on Washington Avenue near Ninth Street.

It was delivered in March from a company in Arkansas, four months after Aramburo opened his store. The flatbed tractor trailer hauling the giant boot parked in the middle of Washington Avenue (as one does) and was filled with other massive fiberglass objects — including a cowboy hat, two horses, and a moose — going to other places, Aramburo said.

Since arriving outside of Viejo Oeste #2, the big boot, something more typically spotted on Broadway Street in Nashville than on the streets of South Philly, has been the subject of social media posts and frequent photo ops from passersby.

“Last night I reviewed the cameras outside, and I see so many people stop to take pictures on the boot,” Aramburo said.

While the boot has a whole lot of sole, the real soul of the store is Aramburo, who’s created a place that evokes memories in his clients, from the warm earthy smell of leather that permeates the shop to the vibrantly-patterned cowboy shirts within it.

“People tell me, ‘This is the smell of Mexico’ when they come in the store,” Aramburo said.

Viejo Oeste #2 has an incredible array of men’s and women’s cowboy hats, the best of which are kept in cases, and an equally impressive collection of cowboy boots made from skins including, but not limited to, ostrich, snake, stingray, lizard, and alligator.

There are belt buckles featuring bull riders, steer, deer, eagles, Mexican flags, U.S. flags, and buckles with the Mexican and U.S. flags with a golden bull rider overlay.

On the outside and inside of the changing rooms are cowboy murals painted by local artist Gerardo Texcocano and on the front counter are bottles of Platini cologne, a statute of the Virgin Mary, and a painting of Jesus.

When Brazilian native Emerson Negao walked into the store Monday for the first time with a friend, he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Woooow!” he said as he opened the door, later adding that in Brazil, he always wear clothes like this.

Growing up in Durango, Mexico, Aramburo said Western wear, called ropa vaquera, was very popular. In fact, the vaquero, or Mexican cowboy, predates the American cowboy, who was heavily influenced by the vaqueros’ style.

Aramburo first left Mexico at 17 and spent four years working construction jobs in Los Angeles, but the city never fit him right. He made money, but spent it just as quickly. He returned home for a year, during which time he met his wife, with whom he shares two sons, now ages 26 and 21.

In 1993 at the advice of a relative, the couple moved to Atlanta, where Aramburo found work in construction and then at a chicken plant.

One day, he brought in three piteado belts, Mexican leather belts embroidered with thread made from the century plant. The belts quickly sold to his Mexican coworkers and he saw a business opportunity.

“I order another five belts. I sell those right away and then people started asking me for hats, for boots, for leather jackets,” Aramburo said.

Inspired by the success of his side hustle, Aramburo opened his first Viejo Oeste Western wear store in Gainesville, Ga., in 1999. The name, which means “Old West,” was voted on by his coworkers at the chicken plant, he said.

In the succeeding years, he opened a second location in Gainesville and a third in Birmingham, Ala., all of which were named Viejo Oeste.

Business was good for a while, until the financial crisis of 2008 forced him to close all but the original location, and even that one struggled to rebound.

“I’d be sitting on my chair with no customers. I turn my head and see all my store and I said, ‘This store is beautiful, but I don’t have customers. I’ve got to find another place,’” Aramburo said.

A friend living in Delaware suggested he try his luck there, perhaps at the New Castle Farmers Market. When he went to check it out, he saw many Latinos at the market and felt like it could be a good opportunity for his business.

In 2012, Aramburo closed his Gainesville store and moved to New Castle, where he set up Viejo Oeste (which is #1 of two right now, if you’re counting) at the farmers market. Many of his customers, he began to notice, came from the Philly area.

“They were always asking ‘Why you don’t open one of these stores in Philly?’” he said.

And so he did, in November of last year.

He chose the location of his shop, which previously housed an appliance store and samba studio, because he’d come to Ninth Street to eat at the Latino restaurants and saw a lot of foot traffic.

“And most of the Mexican people, the Latino people who live out of this area, they know this area,” he said. “They come, even from Delaware, they come to Ninth Street, and everybody I know knows where the Italian Market is.”

So far business has been good. Jaripeos at Lighthouse Field in North Philly, which are similar to rodeos and feature bull riding and live music, help bring in clientele and returning customers tell Aramburo their looks turn heads.

“Especially in a city like Philly, when you see a man dressed up in Western, you have to turn your head to see,” he said. “And that’s one of the main things I hear from the customers, they come and tell me, ‘Oh, my God, I get the attention!’”