The famous Texas bootmaker Lucchese has clicked its heels together and put together a new store on at 1508 S. Congress Ave., with a grand opening ceremony scheduled for August 29-31.
The grand opening will be marked by musical performances by some local favorites. Houston-area country singer Parker McCollum will be there for a short set and meet-and-greet at 7 pm on Thursday, August 29. The next day, the University of Texas pom squad is stopping by with Bevo, the Longhorns mascot, from 11 am to 1 pm. Thebrosfresh will keep the party going on Friday.
Some of these visitors reflect recent collaborations within the brand. Parker McCollum teamed up with bootmakers to release a new collection in March 2024, with designs inspired by his past albums. The Evening Patriot was the lead look in the collection, primarily featuring white and blue boots with a red rose inlay, plus a matching blue belt.
“When I connected with the team at Lucchese to design this collection, my goal was for these boots to feel like me, so I approached it the way I write my music,” said McCollum in a release announcing the collection. “Just like my songs, I wanted to create something that people can see a bit of themselves in, that would feel timeless and would inspire folks in their day-to-day, something Lucchese is already really good at.”
The UT cheerleaders are also adjacent to an even more recent design choice. This August, the Dallas Cowboys named Lucchese as their "official boot," which the bootmaker celebrated with a themed collection. It included Lucchese's first-ever child's boot. Among other styles in the collection, these white boots mimic the ones the Cowboys' famous cheerleaders wear.
The Lucchese brand was born in San Antonio in 1883, where it belonged to Sicilian immigrants Salvatore and Joseph Lucchese. (That's pronounced luke-eh-seh or luke-ay-see, depending how much you want to Americanize the accent.) It celebrated its 140th anniversary last year with extremely detailed bluebonnet boots. The new store will carry western boots and casual footwear, accessories, leather goods, and other apparel in men's and women's styles. It will be the brand's 18th store in Texas.
The space previously belonged to Maya Star, which closed in early 2024. This was during a particularly painful streak of closings for locals who valued the longstanding offbeat character of South Congress. One of the businesses lost at the time was Mi Casa Gallery, which closed in April and was replaced by Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott in July. In some ways, these are both better than the non-Texan or even international interlopers Austinites feared would fill the vacant spaces; but especially in the case of Lucchese replacing Maya Star, the price points for shoppers are much higher.
More information about Lucchese is available at lucchese.com. Store hours are Mondays through Saturdays from 10 am to 8 pm, and Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm.
