Outback Leather plans to return

By KATIE V. JONES

Standing in his shop Outback Leather, surrounded by fans whirring, plastic tarps blowing and the smell of smoke lingering in the air, Ron Sargent can only shake his head and be thankful.

“No one was here. It was a beautiful day,” Sargent said, recalling the fire that started in an apartment above his store on Aug. 12. “Watching my building burn and there was nothing I could do about it.”

While the fire didn’t spread beyond the apartment, more than three inches of water cascaded into his store below, destroying tools, hides, leather belts, vests and saddles.The drop ceiling collapsed, mold is now growing on walls and kicked in doors lie to the side.

“The whole thing will have to be gutted,” Sargent said. “Everything is ruined.”

His main concern is his tenants, all of whom lost their homes.

“Their lives are upside down,” he said, noting that a GoFundMe page has been set up to help with their expenses.

Faulty wiring is thought to be the cause of the fire in the building, which is more than 100 years old. Sargent has worked in the building for 48 years and bought it in 1995.

“There was no air conditioning or heat,” he remembers. Sargent started working for Gayner’s Saddlery right after graduating from Laurel High School in 1976. He was sent to England to learn how to make custom saddles and spent a career doing personalized leatherwork and boot fittings largely for riders, jockeys and bikers, He bought the business in 1995  and renamed it Outback Leather.

“Gayner’s was the supermarket for horse-related products. The Walmart of leather products,” he said. 

A one-man operation, Sargent has had a few apprentices over the years, and his wife ran a horse blanket repair and

cleaning business.The pandemic put a damper on their work, he said, and he was contemplating retiring until the fire. Now, Sargent envisions new apartments on the second floor and a boutique store next to his revamped leather shop.

“I’m going to come back better,” he said.