Cavenders bring business to Pittsburg and beyond

James Cavender, who died May 29 at age 87, moved to Pittsburg with his wife, Pat, just as they were starting their family of three sons, Joe, Mike, and Clay, and daughter Traci. It was 1957 and rock and roll, bobby socks, burgers and milkshakes were booming, so Cavender seized on the opportunity to open a Dairy Mart franchise.

According to a company release, “a year into the venture, James, tired of paying the $150 annual franchise fee, changed one letter on the sign and the business became the Dairy Hart. It would become a Pittsburg institution for years to come.”

Cavender saw new opportunities on the horizon and sold the burger joint to open a clothing store in 1965 with business partner Sonny Smith. Starting out, Cavender & Smith’s primarily sold men’s and boys’ apparel, but the pivotal point in its history came when, in its second year in business, James Cavender added three styles of Tony Lama boots.

“James kept adding more styles of boots and word spread and people came from miles around. The store was renamed “Cavender’s and a Western empire was born,” the release states.

Through the 1970s, the store’s expansion continued, and it became the largest dealer of Western boots in East Texas. Cavender’s began its trek across the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, where today there are 10 stores, and by the mid-80s, the company had spread into Houston, where it currently has 11 stores.

As the expansion train continued, the future of the flagship store hung in the balance, but, Cavender approached fellow businessman David Hoover, the owner of Hoover’s Jewelry, with a business proposition.

“Mr. Cavender knew that my wife and I had a jewelry store on Main Street and he felt like we needed to offer more than just the jewelry store, and he wanted us to take over his store there in Pittsburg and operate it,” Hoover told the Gazette after Cavender’s passing. “At that point, he wanted to go to larger cities, but he didn’t want to see the store close in Pittsburg, so it was a good move for both of us. We bought it from him, and it was quite successful, and we carried on the (Cavender’s) name for about 20 years after that.”

Hoover has since moved his business to Mount Pleasant and shares the Hoover’s Jewelry space with his daughter and son-in-law’s western store Diamond T Outfitters.

Of Cavender’s death, Hoover said, “You can’t measure what East Texas has lost. During his lifetime, he built the business, and he touched thousands and thousands of lives.”

Today, with 80 stores in 11 states, Cavender’s is the leading Western store in the American South and Southwest, and the sky is the limit for a mega-company that got it humble start in Pittsburg.

“We’re not only going to survive, we’re going to thrive,” Jim Thompson, Cavender’s chief financial officer, told the Gazette. “The groundwork was laid years ago for the perpetuity of this business. Joe, Mike and Clay are awesome leaders, and, to James’ credit, he stepped out of the way so that they could learn and grow and be prepared for this day.”