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Del Mar Couple Decks Out The “Frustrated Cowboy”

Del Mar Couple Decks Out The ‘Frustrated Cowboy’

BY LEE ZION

Staff Writer

It all started with a dream, and a name.

Del Mar-based Frustrated Cowboy sells Western-themed gifts, accessories, clothes and cowboy hats to folks who wish they had more “cowpoke” in them. But although the store, with 400 square feet and four part-time employees, opened in April 2000, it actually had its start much earlier.

Co-owner Carol Goodell said the story began when her husband, David Goodell, got a folk art statue by Western-themed sculptor Michael Garman back in the 1970s.

“He thought it was wonderful and started collecting them. And he said, ‘Someday, I’m going to open a store, and I’m going to sell Michael Garman statues. And I’m going to call it the Frustrated Cowboy,'” she said.

It took about 25 years, but once he sold some land he owned, he now had the time to pursue his dream. Just as he said he would, David opened his store with the name he’d picked out about a quarter century earlier, Carol said.

The name clicked with shoppers.

“They love it, absolutely love it. In fact, that’s what probably draws the people in most,” she said. “If somebody calls information to ask for the number, the operator will laugh. It really creates a lot of attention.”

The name also drew people to their Web site, (frustratedcowboy.com). They’ve sold to customers as far away as Israel, Italy and Japan, since there’s a worldwide fascination with cowboys, David said.

David called the sales figures “ridiculously low,” however. In the store’s first year of operation, Frustrated Cowboy did about $50,000 worth of business. In 2001, the company had $60,000 in revenues, David said.

David said he expects sales to increase as more people get to know about the store.

Carol added that her husband isn’t a frustrated cowboy himself. Although his main job is to purchase land for development on behalf of the Del Mar Investment Group, he is also expanding his other business. Seabreeze Farms, a horse ranch in Carmel Valley, boards horses for competition and trail riding.

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