Rod's Western Palace takes a different tack with Polaris mall store

After nearly half a century as a Columbus retail staple, Rod's Western Palace is taking a different tack.

The company, one of the nation's largest sellers of horse gear and Western merchandise, has opened its first store beyond its original North Side location at 3099 Silver Dr., identifiable by a giant horse on a pedestal.

To help spread the company word, Rod's has opened Rod's True Western shop next to Abercrombie & Fitch on the ground floor of Polaris Fashion Place mall.

"We all interact with people in Columbus who say 'I’ve never heard of Rod's' or maybe they say 'Oh, is that that horse that sticks up off 71?' and that's frustrating since we have been here so long," said Phil Minix, Rod's executive vice president and general manager. "So we’ve been thinking about another location in an area where we could get 'discovery traffic.'"

With a short-term lease, the Polaris store is an experiment.

"Our hope for the Polaris location is obviously to sell enough out of the location for it to be successful on its own, but also as an awareness for our main store — which is 10 times bigger — and our website," Minix said. "We are thrilled with how the store turned out. ... We’ll see how it goes and hopefully it will be successful enough to keep us there long-term."

More:Polaris welcomes Jamaican restaurant, candy shop and shoe retailer as new tenants

The Polaris store focuses on Western apparel, boots, belts, hats, accessories, and home and gift items, although Minix said the store's offerings may be tweaked.

"We will continue to adjust the merchandise assortment based on what is working and what people are asking for," he said. "Since it's so close to our main campus, it's easy to bring merchandise back and forth."

Founded in 1976 by former Bob Evans Farms CEO and avid horseman Dan Evans, Rod's was originally part of the Bob Evans group. The company's current owners, Scott and Karen Hartle, have helped grow the firm into an online force, with a wide array of Western merchandise including clothing, boots, tack, home décor, bedding, fragrances and jewelry,

At the same time, the company's retail space has grown from 4,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet, including a tack barn behind the store.

"Retail performance has been very, very strong the last few years, so this also encouraged us to think about another location," Minix said.

"The growth of brick-and-mortar has not been a key element of our growth plans," he added. "However, with our retail doing so well in the past few years, it does cause us to think more about this in the future."

[email protected]

@JimWeiker