Waking Up Waco

A reality-TV couple did more than open a hotel in the middle of Texas. They gave the city a public makeover.

- Jeff Chu

ON THE WALLS of the Waco, Texas, headquarters of Magnolia, the home and lifestyle brand founded by reality-TV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, you'll find a bold mission statement. "We believe in unearthing beauty, however hidden and subtle it might be," reads one standout line.

Three blocks away, the Silos is a development that embodies that philosophy. In 2014, the Gaineses, both alumni of Baylor University in Waco, bought the moldering Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Mill. Over the past decade, they have transformed the five-acre downtown property into a retail mecca for fans of their hit HGTV show Fixer Upper and the Magnolia empire it spawned.

In addition to the flagship Magnolia Market, which sells home goods, there's Ferny's: The Retro Plant Shop, curated by Joanna's sister, Mikey (I bought a lovely $34 pot made by a local ceramist); Reverie, which sells women's clothing; and No. 16, with Chipapproved baseball caps, pocket knives, and other stereotypical guy stuff. Need caffeine? There's the Magnolia Press. Craving quiet? Find respite from retail inside the Old Church, a 130-yearold, long-abandoned Presbyterian house of worship that was dismantled, moved a mile down the road, and rebuilt in 2020.

The Silos has proven popular: more than 1 million people visit annually. The rust on the mill's two 120-foot-tall silos is now a beauty mark. Yet Waco lacked luxurious lodgings for those visitors-until last fall, when the Gaineses unveiled Hotel 1928 (doubles from $375).