Jackson's Western Store plans to move down Patton Avenue as Asheville I-26 bid progresses

ASHEVILLE - Winchester rifles, century-old saddles and expertly crafted cowboy boots transport customers back to the days of the Oregon Trail when they walk into Jackson's Western Store at 641 Patton Ave.

Soon, however, the iconic store will be back on the trail, moving just down the road as the North Carolina Department of Transportation Interstate 26 Connector project slowly makes its way to the area.

The new infrastructure effort comes with a major land exchange and Jackson's falls within the right-of-way of the project.

Jackson's, between its current location and a former downtown Lexington Avenue location, has been an Asheville staple since 1938, offering a leather shop, bull riding equipment and hundreds of different Western-style brands to the Western North Carolina region.

As far back as the '70s, after obtaining the current 641 Patton Avenue location, NCDOT told the company to "not get comfortable" as the project would eventually come through, General Manager Nathan Jackson said.

During that time, the company has seen popularity and growth — with demand for the company's products requiring an additional expansion of the building in 1994.

"50 years later, we got kind of comfortable," Nathan Jackson said of the building.

However, the Jacksons have been working on the move since 2008 and conversations about a new building date back almost 50 years.

Instead of seeing recent progress on I-26 as an impediment, Nathan Jackson said it serves to "fast track our way to a new store."

"For the future, it needs to happen," Nathan Jackson said of the highway project.

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'Fast track our way to a new store'

The business was started by Stonewall Jackson — not to be confused with the Civil War Confederate general Stonewall Jackson — then passed down to Thomas Jackson, Charles Jackson and eventually Nathan and Britany Jackson, who are the fourth generation of Jacksons to run the store.

After conversation on the project restarted in the late 2000's, the company purchased a property just down the road at 1083 Patton Avenue, right next to The Freeze of Asheville, Nathan Jackson said.

Since then, the plan has been to establish an entirely new building for the next generation of Jacksons while expanding their offerings. Nathan Jackson described the move as letting the business "grow to the next generation," that being his sons, Cody, 15, and Cayden, 11.

While the store has thrived — especially as brands like Carhartt and television shows like "Yellowstone" bring more customers to the store in search of Western wear — I-26's complexity has also posed challenges for the store, Office Manager Brittany Jackson said. Nathan Jackson described the highway as occasionally being a "parking lot" of traffic.

"It just doesn't work. It's hard to convince people we have a Patton Avenue address when we're on a service road," she said of the highway.

The portion of Interstate 240 directly next to Jackson's can also be dangerous. The I-240 curve near the store has been informally named "Jackson's Curve" and is known as a notoriously sharp turn that has had multiple flipped tractor-trailers over the years.

"I'm really excited for us not to be named into a curve anymore," Brittany Jackson joked.

N.C. Department of Transportation still working on right-of-way

For Jackson's Western Store, the company hopes to move into their new location in "maybe a year or year and a half," Nathan Jackson said.

For this particular portion of the I-26 project, right-of-way processes are still a work in progress as bid contracts are worked out, I-26 Connector spokesperson Stephanie Johnson said. Right-of-way discussions for this section won't begin until a contractor and final plan is selected.

"NCDOT and its contractors will begin right-of-way negotiations for the North section of the I-26 Connector after the design-build contractor has been selected," Johnson told the Citizen Times May 1.

"In this section from Haywood Road to Broadway north of the river, the awarded contractor will coordinate final design, right-of-way operations as well as construction," she continued, stating the "best and final bid opening is expected to occur later this month."

The design-build section, also known as "Section B," has an estimated total cost of $884 million, according to NCDOT. The construction contractor bids for the project recently came in over estimate, with the lowest being $188 million over NCDOT projections.

Section B is the largest and most expensive part of the project that will connect I-26 in southwest Asheville to U.S. 19/23/70 in northwest Asheville — cutting out highway traffic from Patton Avenue and creating new connections over the French Broad north of the Bowen Bridge.

"This 26 expansion — it needs to come in," Nathan Jackson said. "And it is unfortunate for us and Mr. Transmission and the Racquet Club behind us."

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Jackson's Western Store to move as the I-26 Connector moves forward