Comments (0) Best Western Store - 2007

El Nuevo Estilo Western Hats

This ain't no Western store for gringos, unless you're the sort who likes pink Mexican wedding shirts with scorpions stitched on the sleeves. Whatever your ethnicity or fashion bent, the folks at El Nuevo Estilo will welcome you like family. The store opened 16 years ago as a hat shop, and cowboy hats are still its specialty. Customers drive in from Amarillo and Midland to buy hats here that aren't sold anywhere else. Ask the owner to show you the lid with the hidden weed compartment (it's called El Dealer) or the style with the 18-karat gold "placa" on its brim (it's called El Mafioso). You may think it takes a touch of sunstroke to drop $500 on a straw cowboy hat. But for rancheros from Durango and Sinaloa, that makes perfect sense.