Cheyenne’s Corral West enters Web

CHEYENNE — Western wear on the Internet? It shouldn’t sound far-fetched.
In the last few weeks, Cheyenne-based Corral West Ranchwear Inc. joined the ranks of a growing number of Western clothing merchandisers to hawk their wares over the World Wide Web.
For the Cheyenne company, the move superseded an earlier plan to launch a catalog business this spring.
“We decided to do this first,´ said Gordon Horton, marketing director for Corral West. “The catalog is a separate thing, and we’ve not set a time frame for it.”
Even in its infancy, the virtual catalog, is netting 200 to 300 browsers a day. It’s unclear as yet what percentage of those shoppers actually place orders, Horton said.
Launching the Web page cost about $2,000 to $3,000 in software upgrades and production, Horton said. A catalog would require a much larger investment.
“The Internet has a lot less limitations,” Horton said. “With a catalog, you have to print one for everyone. Printing 20,000 catalogs, or even four-page fliers, would cost several thousand dollars.”
Still, Horton said, in order for Corral West to reach all potential customers, a catalog eventually will be produced.
Corral West, which opened several new stores last year, including ones in Greeley, Longmont, Grand Junction, Westminster and Yakima, Wash., will slow expansion this year.
“Because the retail market slides up and down, we’ll only do one new store in 1996,” Horton said. That store may be in Colorado Springs.
Corral West posts $52 million in annual sales and has 52 stores in 11 states.