Boot Barn opening soon in Madera
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
The Office Depot building on Cleveland Avenue is undergoing work to convert it into a Boot Barn, which is expected to open in March.
The rumors are true — Boot Barn is coming to Madera to fill in the recently vacated Office Depot building.
According to Madera’s Chief Building Official Steve Woodworth, Boot Barn hopes to open their Madera store in March.
“It is definitely coming into Madera,” Woodworth said. “They want to try to be open by March, the earlier, the better. That’s how their fiscal year goes. They have their timeline on when to open up.”
Woodworth said Boot Barn has already started remodeling the building on the inside.
“They’ve pulled permits for all the work they are going to do,” he said. “They aren’t going to do a lot of interior stuff. They just built some interior walls to put up slab boards to put up shelves.
“They will have gondolas and tables in the center. I’ve never been into a Boot Barn, but according to the contractor, they take over the center part with gondolas and cabinet-type things to display boots”
The closest Boot Barn is in Clovis. There is also one in Selma and in Tulare.
Woodworth said the deal has been in the works since Office Depot moved out.
“They went through Bobby Kahn (with Madera County Economic Development Committee) and he directed them to us. The planning department didn’t have anything to do with it so there was no site plan review or conditional use permit. They were able to go in and go to plan check. We turned their plans around in a few weeks.”
Woodworth said there isn’t a lot of remodeling to do on the inside of the building because they liked some of the original flooring.
“They stripped the floor of the vinyl tile, but they like the concrete slab to make it look like a barn,” he said. “They should make their March opening without any problems. All of the inspections are going well.”
Woodworth expects a Boot Barn sign to go up sometime soon, but that will have to go through the planning commission.
Woodworth also expects Boot Barn to be a positive for the Madera community.
“Boot Barn is really cool because they cater to the ag community, as far as clothing,” he said. “They will have farming and construction apparel and fancy horseman stuff. I’ve never been in one so I can’t speak to what their clothing line is like.”
