Off the rack — Store owner embraces versatility

Locals and tourists who walk into Deb Carr’s shop on Main Street in Newcastle may be struck by the diversity of goods for sale. They may also be surprised that Carr made the unorthodox decision to place W.C. Sports & Western Wear sports memorabilia alongside American-made candles, tuxedo pocket squares, flower girl dresses and bunches of other items that might be featured at weddings.

She will tell you that it was God who made her do it.

W.C. stands for “Wedding Closet,” and Carr, who majored in art in college, told the News Letter Journal that 32 years ago, before she first opened her shop in Sioux City, Iowa, she never would have dreamed she would make that layout decision. When she started her business, she was a single mom with three children and had a full-time job. Looking back, she’s not sure how she had the time, but she knows she was committed to its success. Carr said she believes she was able to develop her managing skills because her father put her in charge of the family pig farm when she was about 10 years old.

She and her late husband, Tim, moved to the Black Hills so he could pursue work in wildland fire-fighting. Her first year having the shop in Newcastle, 2011, was “amazing” but still “not enough to keep rolling.” In 2012, she prayed for answers about what to add to the shop’s inventory to keep it busy for 10 months of the year, instead of just the six months when the shop sees a lot of prom and wedding shopping.

She said God prompted her to start stocking NFL inventory.

“OK, you know what you’re talking about,” she told God. “You know I’m a big Chicago Bears fan, Lord. How am I supposed to take Dick Butkus and put him next to a wedding gown? This little town’s going to think I’m crazy.”

But it has worked, and Carr rattled off the eight teams that sell the best in her market: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings.

Carr said she particularly enjoys chatting with people about sports. Sometimes, young boys whose heads barely reach above the store counter come in just to chat with her about baseball and football.

Carr said that she aims to put the golden rule into action through her work at the shop, where she is sole owner and operator. She enjoys seeing children and adults alike at her shop and allowing them the opportunity to touch and see the real-life color of what they would like to purchase before they buy it, which isn’t possible with online shopping.

“Computers are getting better with colors, but they can still distort colors,” she said.

Western wear is another year-round inventory selection that has helped support her store’s success. For years, she and Tim had discussed adding it before she made the ultimatum in 2014 that they either needed to do it or never speak of it again.

“It was the best thing that I ever put in the store,” she said.

While the addition of sports products and western wear has helped pay the bills, her passion continues to be helping high school students get ready for prom. She has a “wall of gratitude,” which features photos and messages from customers she’s guided toward their special days.

When girls are having trouble finding a dress they like, Carr encourages them to try on more options than what they had envisioned themselves wearing — and to even try on dresses that they don’t think they would like — because that’s, “nine times out of 10,” when they will find “that gown.”

“Say, for instance, you hate the color pink, but it looks good on you. Wear it,” she said. “You and your dress will be talked about because that’s totally out of your element.”

Weston County School District No. 1’s 2025 prom is May 3, and, for a decade, one of the ways that Carr has supported the Newcastle community is by throwing parties, where girls can come to her store to get their hair, nails and makeup done for free. The idea was to help ease the pain associated with how expensive dresses have become. She said the event is open to all girls, regardless of a family’s income level — because God loves everyone.

“The dear Lord laid it on my heart, ‘Who’s really less fortunate? The girl who has everything or the girl that has nothing?” she said.

Many of the stories that are told through the dozens of messages and photos on the bulletin board at the store are of women she’s assisted with wedding preparation. One that stands out to her was a woman who needed a size 32 wedding dress expanded to size 42, which Carr accomplished without the guidance of a dress pattern. The other was a woman who wore a green prom dress to her wedding.

“Who said you always have to wear white?” Carr said.

Carr said Tim also enjoyed helping boys prepare for prom, explaining to them how to wear the components of tuxedos. Tim died from cancer in January 2020, and Carr said the effort that she put into the store during her husband’s illness helped her cope with her grief and her anger toward cancer.

“It’s what was keeping me going,” she said.

Carr is raising money for Weston County residents and their families who have dealt with cancer, and she’s hoping to start a nonprofit someday.

Days when few customers come into the shop are frustrating, “but then you have that wonderful customer that tells you what a good job you’re doing and everything, and that bad situation just fades away,” she said.

For example, a woman recently visited the shop with her grandson to rent his first tuxedo for prom, and the youth told Carr that the experience went better than he thought it would be, based on what other people had told him to expect.

“It’s not supposed to be painful, buddy! This is supposed to be fun! I want your first experience to be good,” she recalled saying to him.

Carr said that she was able to help the young man laugh, relax and have fun.

“You made him feel really good. You’re good at what you do,” the grandmother told her.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it even more difficult for small retail stores to compete with e-commerce, Carr said. One difficult part of helping teenagers get ready for prom is that new prom dresses are released a year before prom, well before the school announces the theme.

She encouraged the community to come take a look at what’s in her store before they shop online, and noted that one of the benefits of shopping locally is that tax dollars associated with local purchases support the school district.

“Stores like (mine) are fading away, and the people are the only ones who can keep it alive,” she said. “You need customers to be able to run a store.”