Wimberley’s famed ‘Boot Whisperer’

A woman walks into the Wild West Store on Ranch Road 12.

The owner of the store, Ulli Johnston, asks the customer to take off her shoes.

Ulli ponders the customer’s feet for a few moments then disappears to an adjoining room filled with vintage boots. She re-emerges with a pair of 30-year-old black, leather Lucchese cowboy boots made in San Antonio. They look like new.

The customer slips them on and walks around.

“Oh my God,” she says. “With all these ornate boots in here how did she know I would want the plain, classic boots. That’s what I wear.”

That customer has just been “boot whispered.”

For 26 years, Ulli and her husband Bill have been selling vintage cowboy boots (and a handful of other items such as hats and belts) at the Wild West Store in Wimberley. It’s quite a place. Although the sign out front says there are more than 500 pairs of boots for sale, the actual number is more like 700. Ulli knows where each pair is located and she knows their histories.

And, she’s particular. For the most part, she explains, today’s boots aren’t made with top-quality leather and the workmanship isn’t there. You won’t find boots made in China or India in her Wild West Store.

“By the late 80’s it started going downhill,” she explains, “with the production moving overseas. They wanted to improve the profit margins by using cheaper leather and cheaper labor. Today’s boots fall apart quickly.”

With the exception of some custom-made boots, you won’t find many options made after the year 2000 in the Wild West Store.

A functional boot

No one really knows who actually invented the cowboy boot. According to North Carolina-based leather retailer Buffalo Jackson, after the Civil War cowboys wanted a boot that was high enough on the calf to offer protection on the trail, loose enough to pull a foot out if they got trapped someplace and with a pointed toe to easily slip into a stirrup. They were functional boots. Then along came the movie cowboys in the 1940’s and 50’s — Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Wayne — and boots with colorful designs caught on. Today, the best cowboys boots are made in the U.S., Mexico and Spain.

Ulli’s interest in boots came naturally. “I grew up in Germany with an interest in fine leather and if you are interested in something you want to learn about it,” she says.

The Wimberley store has been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts, including the Financial Times of London, the BBC, Forbes, Texas Monthly and National Public Radio. Ulli proudly shows a photo of singer Jimmy Buffet shopping in the Wild West Store. He bought a couple pair before leaving.

Long ago, a satisfied customer dubbed her “The Boot Whisperer” and the name stuck. She wears it proudly. “A customer was surprised that I could pick up the perfect boots and said ‘you’re the boot whisperer.’ I loved it. Now it’s official,” she explains.

Ulli takes great satisfaction in quickly determining a customer’s taste, fit and size. She estimates she has an 80-85 percent success rate. She recalls one time a male customer came in and she told him she knew he hated pointy-toed boots. He looked at her surprised and just said, “uh-huh.”

Many people come into the store just to have the “whispering” experience and that’s fine. There’s no hard sell. “I can have my best day without even selling something,” she says.

“This is so much fun,” she says with a laughs “This (the store) is my happy place and without it I would probably need medication.”

$12,000 boots

Prices in the store range from a few hundred dollars to thousands. There’s one pair of custom Lucchese boots made from alligator belly that carries a $12,000 price tag. Every conceivable skin is available — lizard, elephant, ostrich, rattlesnake, sea turtle, alligator. Because of environmental restrictions, many of those skins are no longer available today.

As Ulli’s reputation spread, the offers to buy boots have increased. She buys collections. People email her photos of old boots to see what they are worth. Sometimes people get boots as gifts and they just don’t fit quite right so they end up in the Wild West Store.

“I mostly buy from regular people who have heard about me,” she says. “I like to get them from private people. I prefer it when they just walk in.”

The store used to have regular hours, but because of an illness in the family it is now open by appointment only.

Ulli came to the U.S. from Germany in 1989 to visit a friend. The two attended an auto auction in McAllen and Ulli spotted the handsome auctioneer — “He looked like a young Clint Eastwood.” Ulli and Bill were married four and a half weeks later. They recently celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary.

The outgoing Ulli, who is never at a loss for words, takes care of the store and the customers while Bill handles the paperwork and the behind-the-scenes duties.

There are boots for men and women, but she tells kids, “your feet are still growing” and that they can’t buy boots.

Unique experience

Customers love the experience. Here’s one Google review: “OMG! I got boot whispered! Ulli is fantastic! If you are in the market for cool vintage boots you must come here!”

Many of the boots are 50 or 60 years old but in pristine condition. There are no scuffed, broken-down boots in this store. After you have been handed a pair of boots, caressed the leather, admired the stitching, Ulli will quickly tell you it still has the original heel. Ulli points out even the slightest flaw.

She makes sure everyone is satisfied and urges customers to walk around as long as they like and take the boots outside in the sun so they can see what the color really looks like. A good fit, she says, should have plenty of room for toes to wiggle around — “We want happy toes.” — should be snug across the top of the foot, and the heel should have a little “slippage.”

The store first opened out on FM 2325 near Market Days but after a few years moved to its current location at 13709 RR 12, just off the Square.

If you want to be “boot whispered” call Ulli at 512-293-4890 for an appointment.

“This store has been a 26-year, overnight success,” Ulli says.