Karen Gail Jostad,  Star Tribune

The smell of fine leather pierces your nostrils as you step through the door. Just beyond, sterling silver belt buckles gleam in display cases handcrafted nearly a century ago for Schatzlein Saddle Shop founder Emil Schatzlein. Rub your hands along embroidered western wear, fringed jackets and velvet hunting helmets, then try on a pair of jeans, sized to fit nearly any girth.

Customers to the shop, at 413 W. Lake St. in Minneapolis, are greeted by six Schatzlein siblings, Emil's grandchildren, who sell everything from saddlery and boots to Stetsons, spurs and hand-tooled wallets, and by longtime employee and family friend Jeanne French, who coordinates the drug testing program for horses at Canterbury Downs. Mindy the dog, Janet Schatzlein's 12-year-old Australian shepherd mix, often is there, too, offering a friendly nuzzle.

That the store has thrived for 97 years in a part of town that now rarely sees an equine, save for a parade and the mounted patrol, has as much to do with customer service as it does with high-quality goods and craftsmanship, said Peggy Schatzlein, the store's bookkeeper and webmaster.

"We all like to help people," she said. "We're always trying to educate people. We don't just want to make a sale. We want you to be happy. If you're happy, you'll come back."

Emil Schatzlein, a German immigrant who apprenticed as a saddle and harness-maker in California at age 16, moved to Minneapolis in 1907 and opened the first Schatzlein Saddle Shop at 609 W. Lake Street. Dulono's Pizza is there now, but keen-eyed customers can still see the outline of oiled harnesses that once hung on the wall near the entrance. Not far from there, on Dupont Avenue, was a stable.

In an era when horses and buggies were as common as home-baked bread and pavement was far in the future, Schatzlein built a thriving business repairing bridles, halters and harnesses, and getting horses and buggies unstuck. In 1928, he manufactured his first English saddles and harnesses. The store has had a successful tack and apparel department for the English rider ever since.

In 1936, the store moved two blocks east to 421 W. Lake St. It moved across the alley to its present location in 1968, 10 years after Jerry Schatzlein, now 82 and living in Texas, bought the store from his father after a long apprenticeship. With help from his wife, Millie, he expanded the store's western wear and accessories. Their daughter, Linda Ashland, buys the apparel; her sister, Joan West, accessories. Gary Schatzlein, their son, is the store's third-generation leather craftsman.

Craftsmanship is key

It takes a little coaxing to get Gary to talk about his craft, but once started, there seems to be no end to his knowledge about tack, its construction and how it's repaired. When he needs help, he consults his sister, Janet, an expert in the field.

Gary's mainstays are a Singer treadle sewing machine for leather that dates to the early 1960s, a newer power stitching machine for medium to heavy leather work, a wooden stitching horse with a clamp to hold the leather while it is being hand-stitched and tools he inherited from his father and grandfather.

Gary's father taught him to stitch bridles and saddles. The late Ray Pierce, a saddle prepper who worked part-time for the Schatzlein family until he retired in 1992 at age 91, taught Gary how to tear apart a saddle and put it back together.

In addition to repairs, Gary makes custom training head stalls, part of a bridle used to train a horse, custom knee pads for installers, based on a template created by his grandfather and refined by Gary, and leather appliance/moving straps that he sells nationwide.

In 1997, when country music station K102 held a contest with a top prize of dinner with singer Shania Twain in New York City, Gary won. He created four leather horseshoe-shaped coasters for the star, each hand-stamped with the name of one of her hits.

"If she asked me out for dinner again, I'd say yes without even thinking about it," said Gary, who was accompanied by his son, Tom. Gary told Twain she could use the coasters while writing music with her husband/producer, Robert John (Mutt) Lange.

" She thought very deeply for a while," Gary recalled. "Within 10 minutes she said, 'Gary, I have an idea of where I want to put these. I'd like to hang them over each of my horse stalls.' " Gary replied, "That would be fine."

"What else was I going to say?" said Gary, finishing the story.

Gary was recently repairing saddles -- he does not make them -- for two English riders, with saddles waiting in the wings.

"The English saddles are largely put together by hand, so they're especially labor-intensive," Gary said.

Customers become friends

There is no doubt the Schatzleins are "people people," but their legendary customer service has made friends of many of their customers, ranging from teens who shop for jeans to nationally known wildlife and western artist Derk Hansen of Woodbury.

Hansen, artist of the 1995 Great American Cattle Drive, in which cowboys from six Midwestern states drove 300 longhorn steers from Texas to Montana, said the Schatzleins are some of the "neatest people" he's ever met. He keeps in touch with them weekly by e-mail.

Award-winning photographer Jim Arndt, whose work is featured in national advertising campaigns, "The Cowboy Boot Book, 100 Years of Western Wear" and the annual "Cowboy Boots" calendar available at the store, also is a Schatzlein fan. Arndt started shopping at the store 30 years ago. Before he leaves for Arizona every year, he picks up tack, shirts, gloves and his favorite slim-fit Wranglers.

"They're great people, always friendly," said Arndt, of Minneapolis. "They always want to talk horses and western wear. I've bought my Wranglers there for years and Gary makes sure they always stock my size. I'm kind of skinny. If I gain weight and buy the next size up, he always remembers. Even when I didn't know them well, they were great people to talk to and they all know their business."

Linda Ledray, a forensic nurse who says riding is her "salvation," has more cowboy boots than shoes and purchased all of them at Schatzlein's.

"It's such a friendly place," said Ledray, of Watertown. "I think it's one of the few that's still like a family store rather than just a retail store. I can't think of a place where I found any boots I liked better."

The Minneapolis Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit also knows Schatzlein's well. Janet ordered and custom-fit the unit's boots, as well as boots for the Minneapolis Park Police Mounted Patrol, which she said are now popular with motorcycle enthusiasts. Gary does bridle repair for the units.

When her grandfather first started the store and Lake Street was a dirt road, Janet said, people would stop by and have repairs done while the harness was still on the horse.

"Now they pull up in the truck and trailer with the horses inside and get things fixed before they go out on patrol," she said.

Among the family's greatest devotees is Jim McGillivray of Staples, Minn.

McGillivray was working in Minneapolis in 1958 when he first saw Schatzlein's. A lover of horses and all things western since childhood, he stopped in and got acquainted with Jerry.

"We kind of hit it right off," McGillivray said. "After work, I'd stop in and volunteer to help out. They were across from where they are now and they wanted to move across the alley. I went in evenings and weekends and did repair work and painting."

They've been friends ever since. Whenever Jerry comes up from Texas, he visits McGillivray. "The kids at the shop call me," McGillivray said. "They're as close to me as my brothers and sisters are."

When McGillivray was injured in an accident in 1981 and lost partial use of his hands and one leg, Janet, the store's certified saddle fitter and tack and English apparel buyer, worked with McGillivray over a period of 17 years to get him back in the saddle. Soon after, McGillivray bought a new saddle for his beloved horse, Shado, and Janet and her brother, Paul Schatzlein, the store's boot expert, accompanied McGillivray on his first trail ride.

"We've been going ever since," said McGillivray, 70.

The Schatzleins go the extra mile for their customers and say they've been repaid in kind more than once. When Janet decided to buy another palomino, McGillivray spent two years scouting for just the right colt. T.J. Bright Sunrise will be 4 years old in April.

The Schatzlein grandchildren take pride not only in their merchandise and customer service, but in educating people about the culture of the American cowboy, the history of Lake Street and how "it provides a niche for small businesses to get started," Peggy said.

"The store isn't just for people who love horses," she said.

-- Karen Gail Jostad is at kjostad@startribune.com.