Hats in the Belfry Review

Almost 20 years ago on a cool December day in 1989, Mom, my aunt and I were strolling along the sidewalk in the then relatively new Bayside Marketplace. While my mother and her older sister were happily browsing through the storefronts, I was in a less-enthusiastic mood; I didn't yet have a credit card, and in my wallet I had less than $30.00...and since I've never been fond of going to a mall just to walk about and "window shop," I was not very happy. All I wanted was to either find a Waldenbooks outlet or for my mom and her sister to get tired so we could get home.

In one of those strange little Twilight Zone moments that sound so made up after-the-fact, my mom pointed to a smallish-looking store called Hats in the Belfry, a millinery with very few stores (the Bayside one, sadly, is closed now), a wide selection of men's and women's hats (over 1,800 available online) and a strong Internet presence (their website has been around for a decade). "Why don't you," Mom said, "go in there for a bit and look around?"

To this day, I wonder if Mom had been there before and knew what was about to happen, or if it was just one of those "destined-to-be" kind of events, but no sooner had I walked into the store when I saw the hat.

More properly...The Hat.

To be more specific, an Indiana Jones Hat.

Ever since I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in the spring of 1981, I had wanted a snapbrim fedora just like the one worn by everyone's favorite archaeologist/soldier of fortune in the Indiana Jones film series.  And over the years I did buy a few hats that looked a bit like it but didn't quite match the look right. Either the color was wrong or the brim was too narrow or the crown too low. And whenever I saw ads for The Hat in the pages of Playboy magazine, the price was $79.99 for a licensed Indiana Jones hat by Stetson. To paraphrase a line that was originally created for Raiders but used in another George Lucas trilogy, I had a bad feeling about ever owning an authentic-looking Indy hat.

If you were to ask me if I remember if Hats in the Belfry had many, many hats in their store that day, I'd have to be honest and say "I don't remember." It was a bit dimly lit, the sun was setting...and I only had eyes for The Hat. (Think, if you can, about the scene early on in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy is looking at an ancient Chapachoyan idol in that hidden temple; that's how I was looking at the hat.)

To make a long story (or review) short, my mom surprised me by asking one of the clerks to help me choose the right size (a medium), and when she saw my face lighting up almost like a kid at Christmas, she pulled out her Visa and paid $40.00 (plus Florida sales tax), and I walked out of the store....wearing my hat, of course.

For more than 17 years, that hat accompanied me on various trips both far and near, more notably when I flew to Denver in February of 2000 to meet a woman I had been chatting with online. And because I normally kept the Indiana Jones hat on a closet shelf and in its original white and green Hats in the Belfry bag, it looked relatively new; the only thing that was off was its missing "Indiana Jones" pin on the hat band.

Sadly, in a moment of stupid carelessness, I left my hat within grasping range of Laika, the half Lab, half Husky (a Labrusky?) we "shared" with my neighbor Elena till the dog died last fall. She normally was a good dog and didn't habitually grab things to chew, but about two years ago, Laika got bored sometime after noon and decided it would be really fun to chew on something that wasn't her chew toy. In a patently uncharacteristic move for her, she grabbed the hat and, because neither Mom nor I were in the area at the time, managed to tear the hat band off the crown and shredded it beyond repair. I can still wear the hat, since neither the brim nor the crown were bitten, but without the band it no longer looks like a nice, if perhaps a bit worn, fedora.

Knowing that the Hats in the Belfry store at Bayside was no more (the closest Florida outlet is in Destin, way up in the Panhandle area!), I Googled "Indiana Jones Hat" and, wouldn't you know it...the first "hit" was for Hats in the Belfry Online Store.

From the Website at www.hatsinthebelfry.com: Hats in the Belfry is a bustling little chain of five (sic) hat shops and a dynamic Internet site. Each store is filled to the brim with every imaginable kind of hat - for men and women. We carry dress hats, casual hats, Kangol hats, cowboy hats, designer hats, Eric Javits hats, tons of berets, Borsalino hats for men and for women, madhatters galore, ivy caps, driving caps, and eight-quarter caps, historical and military hats, hats for travel, funny hats, Stetson hats, crazy hats, Greek Fishermen caps, Christy's of London hats, derbys, Kangol caps, top hats, deerstalkers, Indiana Jones hats, Shady Brady hats, leather hats and leather caps, formal hats, baseball caps, holiday hats, theatrical and costume hats, Easter hats, fall and winter hats, Kangol berets, spring and summer hats, Kaminski hats, caps, rain hats, sun bonnets - you name it, we have it... or we'll try hard to get it for you.

Hats in the Belfry: The Site

The Web site, which was designed by AntRace.com and hosted by AlwaysOnline.net, is fairly functional and rather unpretentious, two qualities I admire in online stores. While I do like attractive-looking Web sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I like for my online shopping experience to be quick, easy, and painless. That means I like sites with easy navigation, easy-to-find categories and, yep, easy payment options.

Although the home page does have nice photos (currently, the "big ad" features a nice-looking lad wearing a Christy's hat, while three other small pictures depict other styles, including a Scala Cowboy Hat and a woman's Sophisticated Large Brim Hat), it is not so overloaded with graphics and animations that your poor PC will slow to a crawl. Rather, you see such helpful boxes as Home, Men's Hats, Women's Hats, Caps & Berets, Cowboy Hats, Costume Hats, Holiday and Hat Brands. Pass your mouse cursor lightly over each and a drop-down menu appears, giving you a wide array of styles and prices to choose from. There are also boxes for Shipping, On Sale, a Basket, Checkout, a Store Locator and New Arrivals, each with its own drop down menu.

From the Web site: Hatsinthebelfry.com currently carries over 1,800 hats online and continues to grow in both styles and selection. The hat selection on our site is second to none, and we are constantly adding more hats and changing the hats in which we offer. We have dedicated Internet experts to personally fill your Internet order and reply to your emails. We will always call you back if you leave us a telephone message. And we usually ship within 24 hours.

My Experience With Hats in the Belfry Online Store: As I said before, I found the Web site by Googling "Indiana Jones Hat," so naturally when my browser window opened it had a nice little "box" with a picture of The Hat and the following blurb for item #551_indy:

Item # 551_indy

Indiana Jones Hat

Indiana Jones Hat - This classic, Genuine Indiana Jones hat comes from the world-famous Indiana Jones Hat Collection. Made of solid an supple wool felt, our Indiana Jones Hat is good for everyday use, or when you have to crack the whip. The brim length on this hat measures 2 1/2". Our authentic Indiana Jones hat has been one of our Best Sellers every month, every year, since 1982.

Now, there are at least two versions of the Indiana Jones hat, one more expensive than the other depending on the material desired. The least expensive (mine) is the wool-felt hat, which sells for $39.99 plus tax and shipping. It's officially licensed, with "Indiana Jones" stamped on the hat's inner lining and a little metal pin with the famous Indy logo on the hat band's bow. The Super Indiana Jones hat ($99.00!) looks identical but is made from fur felt.

Basically, getting the hat was a point-and-click exercise. I knew what I wanted, so I did not navigate through all the brands, styles and prices available. Instead, I clicked on the link to the Indiana Jones hat, put one in my Basket, then proceeded to Checkout, where I typed in my name, address, phone number and credit card number. All in less than five minutes, too.

As in most reliable online stores, I received a receipt-of-order email at my AOL inbox in less than 10 minutes, and within three days of my order, UPS dropped off a box with my new Indiana Jones hat. Included with the hat were a receipt/sales slip and a returns policy sheet with an enclosed mailing label; this is important to have in case you need to return a damaged item (if it was damaged before use, that is) or a wrong model/size hat.

My Viewpoint: Had I been a bit more careful with my original hat, chances are that this review wouldn't have been written, since I am not in the habit of buying different styles of hats. Maybe if JFK had worn a top hat to his Inaugural and men still wore homburgs, fedoras, derbies and all the other headgear that were "must-wear" fashion accessories, I'd buy more stuff from this store.

That having been said, www.hatsinthebelfry.com is a rather nice site, with a laid-back feel and user-friendly interface that makes online shopping there fun and easy. I strongly recommend it for men and women who have a passion for hats, as well as to Indiana Jones fans who wondered where, oh where could they get an affordable replica of The Hat!