BY BONNIE EISSLER
D
PHOTO COURTESY RANCHO DELUXE.
ean Miller, owner of one of the oldest shops in Wimberley, bought Rancho Deluxe in June 2012 after spending many years wholesaling Mexican art from the back of his pickup truck. Rancho Deluxe has an Old West south-of-the-border ambiance that makes it a wonderful shop to browse around in search of unusual gifts and decorative items for your home. Dean grew up in Lufkin, a small town in the Piney Woods region of East Texas. There’s a pinata store in Lufkin, and you can find some pretty good tamales in one of the Mexican restaurants, but this isn’t an area with stores that sell art from Mexico and other exotic locales around the world. Even in high school, Dean was fascinated with Mexican culture. He had Hispanic friends and once he was out of high school, he traveled to Laredo, boarded a bus and traveled further into Mexico, soaking up the culture and learning as much as he could. At that time, he wasn’t thinking so much about buying and selling, although he does recall buying ten switchblade knives for $10 and later selling them to friends back home for $5 each. He traveled a lot in the early days. “I flew, drove, bicycled, walked, rode in the back of a chicken bus,” Dean says, remembering how he got around during those vagabond years. As he traveled all around Mexico, he bought the items directly from the artisans who made them and sold them wholesale to shops in Texas, in towns like Fredericksburg, Boerne and Wimberley. He was especially attracted to Wimberley. One of the people he sold his merchandise to was Sally Curtis, who at the time owned Rancho Deluxe. “She wanted to sell and I wanted to buy so we worked together that way for a while,” Dean says. Today, as the owner of the store, Dean says, “It was a risk to switch from selling stuff from the bed of my pickup to owning a high-end shop in a top tourist town, but I like this better. You can go home at night.” Although the store’s original art and metal sculptures, lamps, rustic furniture and accessories come from many different artists and places, the common thread connecting much of the merchandise is that it’s handmade. Dean likes to know about the individual artists and be able to share their stories. Much of the art he offers comes from Mexico, but that’s not the only source. The shop showcases several area artists and merchants along with many items from countries around the world. “I sell photographs by (Wimberley resident) Robert Anschutz and some of Alan Kimball’s books,” Dean says, “and BBQ See RANCHO DELUXE, Page 15
14 Welcome to Wimberley Fall/Winter 2020-21
