The husband and wife team behind Pilesgrove’s Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters has started an impressive building expansion project which will include the all new Bullhide Brewery, as well as a remodel and expansion to their western apparel store.
When completed the project will almost triple the size of the existing building, and offer customers a cohesive Western experience across the facility… with a new center entrance which will lead to the Outfitters store to the left, and the Bullhide Brewery to the right! All under one roof!
I stopped in today and caught up with co-owner Suzanne, who with her husband Travis owns the Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters store, and together they are embarking on this exciting project which they say promises to redefine the retail landscape in Pilesgrove New Jersey.
The heart of the expansion is the Bullhide Brewery, a craft beer haven which will seamlessly blend the rich tradition of the West with a modern brewery experience. Bullhide will be a traditional NJ Brewery so the will not have a restaurant component, but ownership is working on plans to accommodate food within the confines of NJ Brewery laws.
The Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters store has been in the same family for over 50 years and now moved on to the next generation. They offer a complete selection of amazing Western clothes, boots, cowboy hats and gifts!
The store is beautifully laid out, with large variety of cowboy western merchandise… truly something for every horse riding, country music singing cowpoke!
Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters also has a growing online retail business, and a portion of the new construction will be merchandise warehouse space to support online retail sales!
Western Yet Modern Experience
The architect renderings of the new building are very impressive, particularly in how much wider and larger the building will be… and then you realize on the right side of the building where the brewery will be housed, it will extend further back giving the building an “L” shape!
The expansion project also includes a significant increase in retail square footage, as well as a facelift for the existing store incorporating modern design elements to enhance the overall shopping experience.
The couple and their architects came up with a really smart design where the retail store and brewery are both in one large sprawling building, with a center connecting two-story vestibule area.
The existing Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters building will make up the left end of the building, and on the far right side will be the new Bullhide Brewery.
Visually from the front, it will appear as three distinct sections with a large center area connecting the two end-unit segments, but actually both the Outfitters retail store and the Bullhide Brewery will extend into that center section, with a smaller common center vestibule area.
The overall layout of the building makes a “U” shape in the rear, and along the entire back exterior wall of the new developed building will be a covered concrete patio!
While the couple’s business is completely separate from the ownership of the well known Cowtown Rodeo and Flea Market (which is across the street), they do fully expect that the two businesses will further complement each other. Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters also operates a second smaller retail store directly within the Cowtown rodeo property!
Before I dive into some extra details on the upcoming Bullhide Brewery I just wanna say I had a really nice time today at the Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters store, chatting with owner Suzanne and her employee Marianne. Both of them are just incredibly nice and awesome people!
So honestly when I first walked into the store I didn’t announce myself as “The 42Freeway Guy”, and initially said I was just browsing.
Very quickly Marianne was offering me a polite and friendly tour of the store, highlighting different shirts and suits that were available, as well as several of the ongoing holiday seasonal sales promotions,
So I hit that moment where we had talked long enough about the store that I thought hmm… how do I now say that I’m here to get information to write a story to promote the business?! Doh!
Well I finally just laid it out… and Marianne said she was familiar with my site. She actually lives up in the core 42Freeway area!
So she introduced me to Suzanne, and we spent the next 30-40 minutes talking about the store, the expansion of the brewery, as well as her and Travis’ love for Pilesgrove and the surrounding communities.
Suzanne explained that the Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters store has been in her family for over 50 years, and she purchased the store from her parents… keeping the business within the family!
Well honestly, as usually is the case I think I spoke more about my website and my own personal life, than the business that I am covering! Ha!
So I just want to say that both Suzanne and Marianne we’re simply awesome people and a pleasure to chat with… and if you’ve been thinking about taking a ride down to check out the Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters store, absolutely go do it.
And while you’re down that way head on over to Woodstown and check out the Farmers and Bankers Brewery, or maybe Auburn Road Winery… and if you head in the other direction towards Elmer you can visit the Lost Elephant Brewery.
Bullhide Brewery – Pony Up To The Bar in 2024
As mentioned the Bullhide Brewery will be on the right side of the building with the tasting room taking up basically the full right-front portion of the building.
With the building on the right extending back, a portion of that extended rear space will be the brewery equipment area…. which leaves that front main building right section dedicated for the tasting room.
The architect’s floor plan shows a bar along the back wall in the center, with room for about 20 barstools. The press release from just a couple weeks ago says that the barstools will be saddle adorned… which is something I can’t wait to experience!
Throughout the space are a variety of tables which in the drawing shows seating for about 75 people.
In terms of size of the tasting room, I think it’s going to be one of the larger ones for the area.
Along that front window of the tasting room and into the center of the space there is an outlined area which makes me wonder if there are plans for a dance floor area, but I didn’t think to ask Suzanne! But you can’t have a Western themed brewery without line dancing!
Suzanne also tells me that while her and Travis are both craft beer aficionados… they are not beer brewers and they will be hiring a talented brewer for Bullhide Brewery.
With that being said, a recent post at the Bullhide Brewery Facebook page shows that they already have their brewery equipment in… currently in storage offsite as they wait for the building to be completed.
Readers always ask me for very specific “when are the opening” dates. The couple state they hope to be open in the Summer of 2024, but it’s just so hard for anyone developing anything to pinpoint a date, especially so early in the process.
But I’ll be back in several months to give an update… and of course as they get ready to open! I’m excited for this one!
Links and Location
Bullhide Brewery – Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters
761 Harding Highway
Pilesgrove, New Jersey 08098
Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters
Bullhide Brewery
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