Name of business: D Bar J Hat Company
Address: 5960 Topaz St., Las Vegas, NV 89120
Phone: 430-0681
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dbarjhat.com
Hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Owned by: David Johnson, Raphael Diniz, Janet Diniz
In business since: 1989
Describe your business.
D Bar J Hat Company makes custom handmade hats using fine fur felt bodies made in the USA. All of our hats are custom fit, not only to the size of your head but also to the shape of your head.
In addition, we clean and restore fur felt hats. Our master hatter can reproduce almost any hat from the last 200 years that someone can show him a picture of, draw on a napkin or just describe really well.
Who are your customers?
They range from the person who just walks in off the street to casino companies that want to dress up their employees. We can handle orders of any size, large or small.
We make all sorts of hats, including cowboy hats, tall top hats, fine fedoras and ladies’ hats.
We can fit a head up to and including a size 8 1/2. No size or shape is beyond our abilities.
What makes your business unique?
D Bar J uses equipment that dates back to the 1800s. Our newest piece of equipment is dated 1942.
Each hat is custom hand made to order by our master hatter David Johnson. David has been making hats right here in Las Vegas for the past 25 years.
We will put our hats up against any hat made today. Buying a D Bar J hat is like stepping back in time. It’s the way your grandfather would have bought a hat.
What is your business philosophy?
David likes to say that you rent our hats, you don’t buy them. Because as long as you own one of our hats, we will take care of it for you.
D Bar J will clean, refurbish, and if necessary, completely restore a hat to its original state.
What’s the most important part of your job?
Satisfying our customer.
What is the hardest part about doing business in Las Vegas?
We do not find anything hard about doing business in Vegas. We love it here.
What is the best part about doing business in Las Vegas?
The diversity in the community and the different types of people who come and go. We make hats for everyone, from the entertainer on the Strip to the cowboy in town for the rodeo to the tourist who just pops in.
What obstacles have your business overcome?
Death. Seriously.
Our master hatter started D Bar J in his mother’s garage 26 years ago.
About seven years ago, David was very sick and had to scale back D Bar J’s operations. It was reported in the papers and on the Internet that David had died. Our competition continued the rumor for obvious reasons.
David is healthy and back to making hats.
It is always fun to find an old customer who heard that David died and then realizes he is still around. The most recent and notable is “Dusty” Roy Rogers Jr.
D Bar J has been making hats for the Roy Rogers museum since just before Roy died. Dusty heard of David’s death and went to another hat maker to make his dad’s hat. That did not work out well.
Dusty was very happy that we renewed our association with him, and we are looking for good things in the future.