Alexis Drake

Another entrepreneurial surprise in a small corner shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Cheyenne, Wyoming lately. I decided late last year to pursue some more work in Wyoming because, frankly, it is a much less frustrating place to do business than Colorado. But as in any new endeavor, spending time getting to know a place is the only way to really do business. So walking the streets of downtown Cheyenne has become a weekly ritual over the last several months. I have come to love it. Growing up in the more luxurious sister city of Fort Collins, we always drove by Cheyenne as quickly as possible. It was rough around the edges and always windy. There were the occasional stops for gas or a quick jaunt into downtown for a cup of coffee at the Plains Hotel, but the objective was usually the same: get out of town as fast as possible. But funny things happen when you take a few moments to enjoy something unfamiliar. You start to look more closely at what is happening and how people are living. I have shared many times how much I love Sheridan, Wyoming, and the spirit of freedom and entrepreneurial energies that are readily available when walking Main Street, so I wanted to give Cheyenne a real, honest look, too, because perhaps the same things that make Sheridan special could be housed on the streets of this classic western city.

Last Wednesday, I grabbed lunch with a friend in the old Train Depot, and then we decided to walk a sleepy street back towards the center of town. On one corner as we walked, we could see through some clear glass windows, a multitude of colorful leather rolls, and a workshop. We both were intrigued. We followed the signs to the front door and were greeted by a lovely young woman who welcomed us to “Alexis Drake.” Perhaps I should have known the brand, but having spent very little time shopping for handbags and leather goods for the fairer sex, I was unaware of what we had just discovered. The retail front end of the store was filled with impressive goods. Wallets, handbags, hats, and other handmade gems adorned the shop's tables and walls. It was lovely in every sense. The smell of leather, the old wood floors, and beautiful artwork told me that something special was happening in this place.

“We just saw the leather in the windows on the other street and wanted to come in and see what you are doing.”

“Would you like a tour?” The young woman asked us.

“Absolutely!”

Every hall that we walked down led to another incredible revelation. The room we had spotted from the street was our first stop. Floor-to-ceiling rolls of Italian leather in dozens of colors were on perfectly organized racks. An etching machine was burning artwork into a sheet of leather as we listened to the woman operating it, tell us how this piece of technology worked.

She was working on a branded piece for a new design that had just come from the owner’s studio, just around the corner, under a “Hotel Rex” branded doorway. Clearly, this brand had seen success. The store was not only beautiful, but it also housed an air of excellence. Details were everywhere. As someone who loves great interior design and architecture, it was evident that the owner of this brand wanted to create a place where people would love to work and could make beautiful goods.

We walked around the corner to another room where several women were at sewing machines, working on handbags. It was so refreshing to see people actually making something in their hometown. I probably am too sentimental about what it means, but a great country makes things. In our era of maximum efficiency, corporations and brands have chased the highest margins, and most of the time that means that their goods are made somewhere else, by people who are much less expensive than American labor. So to walk in and see people from Chyenne actually working on the bags that would be sold in their retail store or online was something special.

I had never heard of Alexis Drake before our encounter, but with a few quick internet queries, it’s easy to get hooked on who they are and the products they make. The founder, Lexie Garrett, was encouraged by her husband to trade in the recycled grocery bag she was using for a handbag in favor of something more professional. When she couldn’t find something she was looking for, she channeled her inner Wyoming spirit and made something instead. After a few iterations and some feedback from friends, she started making more of them. She sold her first bag while standing in line for a coffee, and from there her brand exploded, and she was “selling handbags as fast as they could be made.”

I am in the mood these days for beautiful things. There are so many troubles in our world, so when someone is doing something that they love, and they are making incredible products, they should be celebrated. As I walked around the store, I couldn’t help but smile. There are still stories in America where people are rising above the din of mediocrity and adding to our collective American heritage of making the best things. We lose something when we trade away our heritage for something cheaper. Our communities suffer, our ethos fades, and our quality of life is diminished. The handbags that Alexis Drake offers will never match the price of an imitation-leather bag from Walmart, but what we save on the reduced price has a cost somewhere else. Perhaps we don’t see it immediately, but over time, the dollars we exchange from our communities into the hands of conglomerates wear our spirits down. It is invigorating to walk into Alexis Drake. Something from an older era is happening there. People are making beautiful things and, in that act, are offering a different version of capitalism. One, I might add, that is much more appealing. Every dollar someone spends on a handbag, purse, or wallet at Alexis Drake stays in Cheyenne. It goes to her employees, her building rents, and her marketing agency, and instead of just one person benefiting from a good idea, the circle of beneficiaries could easily grow to hundreds from her own hometown.

I will always admire makers. They have the hardest row to hoe in America. The competition is steep, and in an era where every dollar feels less valuable than it did yesterday, selling something that includes the cost of American labor, taxes, insurance, rents, and the hidden ambushes of the small-business playing field can be a more difficult task than most could imagine.

One last thought. In our world, where the rules have become the matrix for functioning, there is something to be said about what just the smallest advantage a place like Wyoming offers. Alexis Drake has a new store in Fort Collins, but what she has created in Cheyenne would likely never happen in Colorado. The taxes are four times what she likely pays for her space in Cheyenne. The regulations for manufacturing and retail would be impossible to navigate through the zoning police. Even hiring the wonderful young college student who welcomed us at the door, who was put together and dressed nicely, and had a beautiful smile, would be harder to find in Colorado. Wyoming feels like what America was 30 years ago. A timecapsule of an older ethic and can-do spirit that is fading in places where the rules have superseded the people they were designed to protect. Freedom can be tasted in the air. I really believe that. Maybe it’s the wind or the wide open fields of expanse that cause it, but Wyoming has it. You can taste it, breathe it in, and feel it when you walk the streets. When we celebrate those like Lexie Garrett who took a chance and believed that she could make something better than what already existed, we add a bit of fuel to that wind of freedom. It helps us celebrate who we are as a people. I wish Lexie the wildest of success. I hope she someday fills a city block with people making her handbags. It is beautiful, it is wonderful, Wyoming, and it is what I hope we always work towards as Americans.

If you want to find out more about Alexis Drake or shop their wares, visit their website here.

Alexis Drake