Hit TV show "Fixer Upper" is making Waco an international tourist destination.
For fans of the show, Magnolia Market is like the mother ship.
“But when you pull down the street and you see the silos, it gets real exiting then,” said Patty Meyers, who traveled more than a thousand miles from Ohio to visit Magnolia Market.
Jaime Kelley drove two hours from McKinney.
“I mean, we walked in and we’re like, deer in headlights. 'We want it all! Where do we start?'” Kelley said.
According to the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau, upwards of 35,000 people a week visit Magnolia Market.
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They’re from around the country, and the Magnolia public relations team said they have a lot of fans come from England and Australia.
“And it was kind of like Field of Dreams, if you build it they will come,” said Brock Murphy, Magnolia’s director of public relations.
Magnolia Market has an active construction site and it’s obvious the company is still growing.
"Fixer Upper" hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines don’t do it alone—they have a team of 400 people to help with their many projects.
They just finished the new bakery, which is delicious; and we’re told their next project is overhauling the famous silos at Magnolia Market.
But with all that Magnolia Market has to offer, there’s one thing that fans can’t seem to find: the "Fixer Upper" hosts themselves.
“Joanna would’ve been nice,” Meyers said with a laugh. “I didn’t think we would see her.”
“I mean, I like them both. I kind of hoped they’d both [Chip and Joanna] be here,” said Kelley.
“Where are Chip and Joanna? So they film all the time. So it’s really close to a 9 to 5 job just filming and then they have to run all of their other businesses,” explained Murphy.
Their show might also have a spin off coming, which focuses on Fixer Upper’s custom-table maker, Clint Harp.
“When I met Chip and Jo, they didn’t even know about "Fixer Upper." It was not even a thing,” said Harp outside his studio.
Harp has been a part of "Fixer Upper" since the show’s very beginning.
He recalled the moment Joanna walked into his workshop and mentioned him playing a role in show’s pilot episode.
“Of course, I have to play it cool, I barely know her,” said Harp. “So I’m like ‘oh that’s great. Good luck with that.’ But on the inside I’m going ‘what!’”
This all started with just a few people who love what they do, and are good at it.
Now it’s an empire that keeps getting bigger.
Online:
“How Magnolia Market Came to Be” – an excerpt from Joanna Gaines.
“In 2003, we bought our “Little Shop on Bosque” and opened the first Magnolia Market. In that store, I developed and sharpened my design style and skills, grew as a business owner, and gained much needed confidence in Magnolia Market and myself.
After Chip and I had our first two kiddos, we made the tough decision to close the Market and focus on growing and raising our family. During this time, we really honed in on Magnolia Homes, our construction business, for many years. This is where we were able to learn the construction side of things, and we loved the idea that we were “making Waco beautiful one home at a time.” This work was meaningful to us, and we worked together for many years as a team; Chip in construction, and myself in the design. Soon HGTV’s Fixer Upper came along. But something began tugging at my heart, and I began feeling a pull toward reopening Magnolia Market. So in May of 2014, we pulled the trigger, and the Little Shop on Bosque reopened for business.
Fast forward a couple of years, and here we are! To think that my business plans scribbled on scratch paper have turned into this online store is unbelievable to say the least. Not to mention the fact that we’ve recently outgrown our Little Shop on Bosque, and moved into our new Magnolia Silos location in downtown Waco! What an amazing season this has been!”
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“I knew when I married Chip in 2003 that our life would be an adventure, but through all of the ups and downs I would never have imagined we’d land here. What I do know is that I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to share it with.” - Joanna Gaines
