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SYLVAN TOWNSHIP — John Sundby’s long love affair with horses began at a young age in central Minnesota and would serve him into a second career that stretched across the globe.

As a young boy, Sundby trained his Shetland pony to rear up like the Lone Ranger’s Trigger making the iconic silhouette on a hill. His horsemanship skills were so readily evident, he was riding a stallion when he was barely in grade school.

Even so, Sundby may not have guessed in those early days that his working career would come back to revolve around horses or that his big-box retail experience would help him create a local business with an international reputation.

But, before that happened, not unlike many other successful entrepreneurial ventures, the business that would become J&B Western Stores started in a basement.

Sundby grew up with horses. He said it is part of his DNA. His father worked with horses, operated a stable and offered trail rides and bought and sold horses. Sundby said his father couldn’t go to a sale without coming home with horses he wanted to match with good homes. Sundby and his siblings at early ages worked on those horses to get them in riding shape.

One part of the horse business that always interested Sundby was the tack — saddle, bridles and all kinds of specialized equipment designed to do a particular job in the communication between horse and rider.

For horse lovers, a tack store can be like a candy shop. Colorful, interesting pieces abound. The aroma of leather greeting the senses with the first step inside the building. Hundreds of saddles lined up across the showroom floor and walls covered in bridles, breast collars, bits. Shelves filled with boots and clothing racks and gifts. That is all part of the J&B Western experience. The tack is a way for a rider to express themselves, find a perfect fit and is how they will be able to communicate with their horse. They also want to get a saddle that fits the horse’s body type — long or short back, prominent or barely there withers — and have it fit the use from trail riding to barrel racing, to show riding. Years ago the same saddle served every purpose, now all are specialized to the use, incorporating the latest trends and technology — like breakaway stirrup irons to keep a rider’s foot from getting caught. Saddles can cost from a used version for a few hundred to more than $2,000 for a new one and even $5,000 for a show saddle. At one time some 500 saddles filled the J&B Western showroom in the large building, complete with a full size horse weathervane on the roof, along Highway 210 west of Baxter.

In October, Sundby and his wife Betty, who handles the clothing lines in the store, decided to retire after 38 years in business. The first day of their retirement sale packed their parking lot as horse people came from far and wide.

J&B Western’s reputation carries a lot farther than the Brainerd lakes area. Sundby’s expertise in horses and encyclopedic knowledge of saddles and tack — and how both work together — inspired people to trailer their horses here from Canada to get a fitting in the round pen next to the store. J&B Western has sold saddles across the globe, shipping internationally. More recently, they’ve shipped in the U.S., sending saddles to Texas and California and outfitting the Border Patrol with more than a dozen special saddles a few years ago. The business’ reputation has been so vast, a saddle company worked with them to create their own saddle.

When the Sundbys were vacationing in Texas they stopped in a Western store and once the people inside knew they were from Minnesota, the Texans said there was a really big Western store up in Brainerd. The Sundbys laughed and had to explain the connection.

“We thought that was so funny that they knew us across the country,” Sundby said, sitting in his office after the store closed the day before the retirement sale began. He said he still loved the business and loved going to work. He also loved working with advertising and designing his ads and writing the copy, something he learned well in his first career with J.C. Penney.

Sundby spent 27 years with J.C. Penney. For a short time, even J.C. Penney sold saddles and tack. At the Brainerd J.C. Penney store, Sundby worked in advertising. His boss knew he had horses and knew about horses and gave him the tack department. As he went to buying markets, he thought someday he’d like to do that on his own.

“I always thought that would be neat,” Sundby said.

A friend tried it but it didn’t last very long. So Sundby bought his inventory and as his dad and brother went to sales he bought more tack. He took his saddles and tack to horse shows on the road and went to one in Brainerd.

“And we sold them the next day and I thought, I think I want to do this,” Sundby said.

That was 1985 and 38 years later, they are still going strong.

As for the basement start, Sundby first took over a room in his home and customers came down to check out the inventory. He laughed at the memory, his eyes crinkling with an infectious smile on his face. When he started to creep into additional rooms and finally up into the living room, that was it for Betty Sundby. The tack was out.

A friend owned a building in Baxter just west of what is now Brother’s Motorsports on Highway 210 and suggested Sundby move his tack business in the building by Christmas.

That was 1992. Sundby said it worked out well. They expanded and added on until they exhausted the space they could occupy for the lot size. So in 2003, they built on land off Highway 210 west of Baxter by Scearcyville in Cass County.

The store has 10,000 square feet. Sundby said as far as saddle selection and inventory, the store was the sixth largest in the nation.

Sundby’s experience with J.C. Penney helped immensely with sales and marketing for many years. He learned customer service, changes in the marketplace such as the addition of credit cards and when he sold fine jewelry with Penney’s, he worked with vendors buying diamonds and more. All that experience helped him in running his own business, giving him more advertising and marketing knowledge than many small business owners may have. Sundby knew how to lay out ads and write copy for print and television.

When the Sundbys built their new store building in 2003, they started internet sales. They also had a custom built 30-foot trailer on the road every weekend selling tack at rodeos and fairs, trail rides and horse shows.

Sundby spent many nights until 1 a.m. at the business. When he retired from Penney’s they had a deal at the time that if an employee’s age and their years of service matched 75 they could retire with all the benefits. When Sundby was in his mid 40s he had 27 years in the business and met the match. He said it might have been a year later Penney’s moved the number from 75 to 90.

It meant Sundby could retire from his Penney’s job and chase the dream of his own tack store. He started with Penney’s when it was in downtown Brainerd after he came home from the service in 1967 and moved with the business as it went out to the East Brainerd Mall. In 1992, he hit the magic 75 number to be eligible for retirement.

“It’s been quite a ride, I’ll tell you that,” Sundby said.

And Sundby would know. An athletic rider, he loved racing events and went to shows every weekend. A boxer, he was sought after for the rescue race where a horse and rider races to the end of the arena and picks up a person from the ground to ride double back across the finish line. Sundby’s leaping skills to the back of a horse had him a sought after partner.

He credited his own partner all these years, Betty, for making it work and a staff that is like family, bringing skills and a passion for horses in a variety of fields to the work from knowing the best equipment for a barrel horse rider to being able to recondition a saddle so it looks like new.

The work has been a joy, he said as he walked between rows upon rows of saddles, but Sundby said at some point everyone has to retire.

Renee Richardson, managing editor, may be reached at 218-855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchBizBuzz.

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