{"id":41525,"date":"2026-05-19T10:51:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=41525"},"modified":"2026-05-19T10:51:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:51:54","slug":"saratoga-hat-shop-founder-built-boutique-from-racetrack-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2026\/05\/saratoga-hat-shop-founder-built-boutique-from-racetrack-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Saratoga Hat Shop Founder Built Boutique From Racetrack Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_41526\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41526\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-41526\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/05\/hatsational-h-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/05\/hatsational-h-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/05\/hatsational-h-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/05\/hatsational-h-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/05\/hatsational-h.png 1100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41526\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside Hatsational Haberdashery in Saratoga Springs, shelves and cases filled with hats reflect Joyce Locks\u2019 year-round Broadway boutique and its ties to local racing-season shoppers at the shop.<br \/>Courtesy Hatsational Haberdashery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Carol Ann Conover<\/p>\n<p>Joyce Locks said a bad hair day at the racetrack helped launch Hatsational Haberdashery in Saratoga Springs.<\/p>\n<p>Locks was in Florida watching her horse race at Gulfstream Park when she realized she had forgotten her hat and could not find a store that sold one. Back home, she said, she found the same gap in Saratoga Springs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started this business because I was having a bad hair day in Florida and I was at a horse race and I couldn\u2019t find a hat anywhere,\u201d Locks said. \u201cAnd I came home and realized there were no hat stores. So that\u2019s what started this. And now I just make people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Locks founded Hatsational Haberdashery in 2007 as a home-based business, hosting hat salons and pop-up events before earning an invitation from the New York Racing Association to sell at Saratoga Race Course. In 2013, she opened her first brick-and-mortar storefront on Broadway. The business now operates at 506 Broadway and keeps a seasonal presence on Artist Row at the racetrack.<\/p>\n<p>Hatsational later expanded to three Broadway locations, including separate men\u2019s and women\u2019s shops. During the pandemic, Locks reduced the footprint and consolidated operations.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"><span class=\"\"><b><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\"><!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>Today, Locks keeps the store open year-round, selling hats for a range of occasions and budgets, including custom, hand-sewn pieces. The shop also carries accessories, scarves, jewelry and pocketbooks. Locks sources headwear from countries including Italy, France, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Ecuador, Russia and Canada, as well as the United States. This spring, she launched a line developed with an English designer who has been in the business for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI try to make sure there\u2019s new, different items every year that come into the store to make everyone just that much more special,\u201d Locks said.<\/p>\n<p>Locks said the goal is to help customers find the right hat, not just to make a sale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t sell to sell. We sell to empower,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that the person finds what they\u2019re looking for at the price point and they look gorgeous. If I don\u2019t like the way a hat looks on someone, I\u2019ll ask them to take it off. I\u2019ve got thousands of options and no one leaves my store \u2014 men or women \u2014 unless they look very good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Customers travel from outside the region to shop at Hatsational, Locks said. She ships to clients in states including California, Texas and Florida, and hats from the store have been worn at the Royal Ascot in England.<\/p>\n<p>The business has also drawn national recognition. The Headwear Association named Hatsational Retailer of the Year in 2019, and Locks said she was the first woman founder in the association\u2019s 111-year history to receive the honor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a national award by the Headwear Association, and I\u2019m the first woman founder ever to win the award,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s like a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Locks said she and a staff of about six work with customers on fit, style and care. She discourages buying hats as gifts and recommends gift cards instead.<\/p>\n<p>Locks also said she does not sell hats directly online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI refuse to sell online. They need me. They need me to make sure that they\u2019re buying the right hat for themselves,\u201d Locks said. \u201cSo you can\u2019t buy online direct. You have to go through me and my staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hatsational Haberdashery is at 506 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. The phone number is (518) 587-1022, and the website is hatsational.com. The business also has Instagram and Facebook accounts.<\/p>\n<p><i>Provided by Hatsational Haberdashery; edited for style and length.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Carol Ann Conover Joyce Locks said a bad hair day at the racetrack helped launch Hatsational Haberdashery in Saratoga Springs. Locks was in Florida watching her horse race at Gulfstream Park when she realized she had forgotten her hat and could not find a store that sold one. Back home, she said, she found [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":41526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Saratoga Hat Shop Founder Built Boutique From Racetrack Inspiration - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2026\/05\/saratoga-hat-shop-founder-built-boutique-from-racetrack-inspiration\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saratoga Hat Shop Founder Built Boutique From Racetrack Inspiration - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Carol Ann Conover Joyce Locks said a bad hair day at the racetrack helped launch Hatsational Haberdashery in Saratoga Springs. 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