Season 3 • Episode 1
Arizona Hatters is one of the longest-running Tucson businesses, serving the community since 1935 and still shaping and restoring hats by hand.
Inside the shop, hats are taken apart and rebuilt. Sweatbands are replaced. Felt is cleaned. Crowns are reshaped. Some hats are brand new. Others are 60 or 70 years old and carry the history of the families who wore them.
In this episode of Two-Lane Tucson, I sit down with Max Larkin of Arizona Hatters to talk about how the shop survived while most hat stores disappeared, what goes into restoring a hat by hand, and why people still travel to Tucson for this kind of work.
Guest: Max Larkin
Business: Arizona Hatters
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Category: Retail / Craft / Western Wear
Arizona Hatters has been part of Tucson since 1935 and remains one of the few specialty hat shops left in the Southwest. Stories like this are exactly why I started documenting Tucson businesses through the Two-Lane Tucson podcast.
In this conversation, Max Larkin shares how the shop stayed alive for nearly a century by doing something most retailers no longer offer: skilled restoration work done by hand.
Customers bring in hats that have been worn for decades. Instead of replacing them, the shop cleans the felt, replaces the sweatband, reshapes the crown, and rebuilds the hat so it can be worn for another generation.
Max also talks about learning the trade from a longtime hatter who worked in the shop for more than 30 years, why customers come from across the country and from Mexico, and what Tucson would lose if a place like this disappeared.
Arizona Hatters is a Tucson hat shop that has operated since 1935.
The shop specializes in cowboy hats, Panama hats, hat shaping, cleaning, resizing, and restoration work. Customers visit for both new hats and repairs that keep older hats in use for years or even decades longer.
Because hat fit, shaping, and restoration are still highly personal, much of the work has to be done in person. That is part of what has kept Arizona Hatters relevant in Tucson for nearly 90 years.
Learn more here: Arizona Hatters
Arizona Hatters represents a kind of Tucson business that is getting harder to find: a local shop built on craftsmanship, face-to-face service, and work that cannot easily be replaced online.
The store also reflects something deeper about Tucson itself. Hats are practical in the desert, but they are also tied to rodeo culture, ranch life, family tradition, and the region’s connection to the Southwest and Mexico.
That mix of utility, history, and personal service is what makes Arizona Hatters more than a retail store. It is part of Tucson’s identity.
Explore more conversations with Tucson founders, operators, and long-running local businesses on the Two-Lane Tucson podcast page .
Two-Lane Tucson podcast series
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Below is a readable excerpt from the conversation. Minor edits were made for clarity.
Arizona Hatters has been part of Tucson since 1935. In this conversation, Max Larkin explains how the shop survived while most hat stores disappeared, why restoration work became essential to the business, and what makes hat shaping and repair so hard to replace.
He also shares how he learned the trade from a longtime hatter named Chung, why customers come from across the country, and how generations of families still return to the shop.
From restoring 70-year-old hats to helping first-time buyers find the right fit, this episode captures why Arizona Hatters remains one of Tucson’s most distinctive local businesses.