When Wei Mah started his business, he didn’t have a supplier list, an internet connection, or a Rolodex full of brand reps. If he wanted new inventory, he had to go find it.
Back in the 1960s, competition was everywhere. No one was willing to help the new guy, and certainly not a Chinese immigrant running a small Western wear shop in Red Deer. If Wei wanted to build a business, he had to do it the hard way: one ask at a time.
So that’s exactly what he did.
He heard about independent bootmakers deep in rural Mexico, far from the cities and big distributors. These were craftsmen making boots by hand for locals, the kind of artistry that big brands had ignored.
Most buyers wouldn’t even think about going there. Wei went alone.
The factories were so remote that they could only be reached by helicopter. He flew into the middle of nowhere, following little more than word of mouth and a gut feeling. And when he met those bootmakers, something clicked.
They saw someone different. A man who believed in the same things they did: hard work, honesty, and craft.
Wei bought directly from them, filled his shelves with boots that no one else in Canada could get, and gave customers something they didn’t even know they were missing: authentic, handmade quality at a fair price.
Those trips to Mexico helped put Wei’s Western Wear on the map. Customers started asking for Wei by name. His shelves were stocked with boots you couldn’t find anywhere else. And before long, the same brands that once turned him away were the ones calling him.
It wasn’t about luck or timing. It was about heart, instinct, and relentless effort, even if it meant flying halfway across the world just to shake a hand.
That’s the kind of grit this place was built on.
From rural Mexico to the shelves of Red Deer, Wei’s Western Wear has always been about finding what others overlook — and doing whatever it takes to bring it home.