By Nancy Jaffer
June 18, 2018
The doors are locked at Beval Saddlery Ltd. in Gladstone, a fixture in the Somerset Hills for 63 years.
Beval Saddlery in Gladstone
Although a paper sign tacked up at the entrance said the store is closed “temporarily,” area equestrians are uncertain of what that means, since the shutdown began at the end of May. In April, the Beval store in New Canaan, Conn., was shuttered. The Beval website is no longer operating. The other Beval outlet, in North Salem, N.Y., remains open, however, and once again can be reached by phone.
The “temporarily closed” sign on the door of Beval’s in Gladstone.
Michael Joyce, Beval’s landlord in Gladstone, said the closure was due to non-payment of rent. He added he has been in email contact with Beval’s owner, Solera Capital LLC, about the company’s hope of reopening.
“I would hate to see them close permanently,” he said.
Solera, a private equity firm, has been in the headlines this month due to financial problems with one of its holdings, Latina Media. Both its co-presidents have resigned, according to an article in the New York Post last week. Another Solera property, Calypso St. Barth’s, went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy last November after vendors claimed they hadn’t been paid. Solera did not respond to phone and email requests for comment about the Beval’s situation
Founded in a garage in 1955 by Bev Walter and Al Merrill (hence the name), Beval Saddlery started off in Bernardsville before moving to what became its longtime home in Gladstone in 1984. Bev had learned to fix leather goods while he was in the armed services, and his equestrian background made the new enterprise a natural. While Beval’s started as a repair business, expansion into sales came fast.
Beval’s was a bold arrival in a time when the business was dominated by Miller Harness Co., H. Kauffman & Sons and M.J. Knoud, all in New York city. Eiser’s, first in Newark and then in Hillside, offered saddlery and equipment closer to home for those in New Jersey.
When Beval’s appeared on the scene, “it was on top of the trends but keeping with tradition,” recalled Sue Benson, who enjoyed visiting the store in the days she was showing, even though it was a bit of a drive from her Long Island home.
Al dropped out early, leaving Bev to implement his innovative concepts. Bev’s wife, Lois, and son, Mark, along with Tom Spinks, were involved in running the company as it expanded and its reputation for quality leather and furnishings grew.
Lois, who is retired in Arizona, remembered a few of the innovations marketed by Beval’s included saddles in tree sizes and stretch breeches. Of Bev, who died in 1993, she noted he was a born entrepreneur, who succeeded with “perseverance and dedication.” His talent played well in an area where opportunities to fox hunt, show and trail ride abounded.
“Maybe we were in the right place at the right time,” mused Lois. She noted that when Beval’s started, many items of tack and equestrian apparel were made overseas and they didn’t always fit U.S. horses and riders to the optimum. Bev visited factories abroad and helped improve fit and quality.
Sue Benson joined Beval’s in the mid-1980s, developing the direct mail business and putting together the company’s first catalogue. Beval’s was synonymous with quality, and people wanted what it provided.
“We started doing gangbusters; the growth was amazing,” said Sue, who now runs an equestrian branding site, somsersetequestriantrading.com.
In addition to the stores in Gladstone, New York and Connecticut, at its peak, Beval’s also had a mobile unit and shops on the HITS showgrounds in Saugerties, N.Y., as well as at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla.
When Sue started her original somersetsportart.com business, Beval was her client until 2007, when a private equity firm bought into the company. Solera became involved in 2012, she said.
Beval’s was an institution in Gladstone, a key player in the equestrian community. It was known for not having sales, with the exception of its once-a-year bargain days in February, when people would line up before the store opened and so many came looking for a bargain that valet parking had to be provided, Sue recalled.
Other highlights Sue mentioned were the big parties, especially the Equus in October fixture held to benefit the Somerset Hills Handicapped Riders, now Mane Stream, in Tewksbury.
Beval’s hosted many fundraisers over the years, like this 2016 affair to raise money for Holly Payne’s trip to Burghley. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
“We’d clear the space and have a silent auction, band and food,” she recalled.
“It was a great American success story, “ Sue observed about Beval’s.
“It’s where I learned so much of what I still use today. They were a great team and a great brand. They did so many things right. What set them apart from being a little tack store was that they were innovative.”
