After more than four decades in business, Catalena Hatters has become a destination not just locally but for those all around the state and country.
The business regularly ships out hats internationally as well and sees generations of families come in all the time, General Manager Scott Catalena said.
“It’s not out of the ordinary for five generations to be in here at once and everyone getting a hat, and making really solid memories for a family, and that’s really fun,” Catalena said.
Despite its growing presence, the business still has strong ties to the community where it came up. It remains in the same building where it started; it uses the same bank that financed it in 1983; and for Catalena, who was born in 1986, he said many who still come in remember him running around as a child.
The history
Catalena Hatters was founded by Catalena’s parents, Sammy and Carolyn. Sammy always had an interest in custom hats, but the machinery to do so is notoriously difficult to get, Catalena said.
“The bottleneck is the machinery,” he said. “The stuff we have is over 100 years old, and it’s tough to find whenever this machinery becomes available.”
Sammy got his chance when he saw an advertisement from a couple in Florida who were looking to sell their equipment. Despite not having the money for it, Catalena said the couple financed Sammy “because they liked him.”
“If it wasn’t for those two people, we wouldn’t be in the hat business,” he said.
Staying local
Catalena said the business gets people from out of town “every day,” but it’s the longstanding relationships built within the community that make it enjoyable.
“They bring their families in, their friends in, they’ll have us make hats for their businesses. Those relationships are a lot of fun,” Catalena said. “Open a lot of doors for you, truly.”
To that end, the business is still owned by his mother, while Catalena and his brother, Travis, run the day-to-day business.
Catalena Hatters offers custom, quality hats for those who don’t want to go to a regular big box western wear store and buy one off the shelf, he said.
Those who visit can see into the factory—connected to the retail space—through large windows where the business makes its hats.
“We’ve gotten to be known as a little bit of a destination in Bryan,” Catalena said. “When you walk into this shop you don’t see a place like this anywhere else.”
