i love ‘em

mom and pop feed stores that is. i love the cement floors and the big open doors, the dust, the smell of hay and feed, and the casual nature of those that work in them. i love the fair ribbons on the walls and the pictures of local kids with their cow, sheep, pig, or goat at the sell barn. i love a lot of things about feed stores but what i love most is that they remain unfussy. no fancy lights or big banners (other than those for feed), no uniforms, or specialized personal. the girl that sells me feed is the girl that loads the feed, puts chicks in a box for the family behind me and advises the guy at the counter about starter feed for pigs. i love that. i love the simplicity of the mom and pop feed store and frequent the one near me as often as i can. the selection isn’t as big, they don’t have nursery stock, or fancy shirts but they sure do have my business day in and day out because they are plain ‘ol NICE, friendly, customer-focused and working their arses off in and for their local community.

if you’re ever in the duluth/ridgefield area check out Pioneer Feed. they’re great people with a good solid selection of merchandise for small and large breed animal needs. and they are plain ‘ol nice.

~ by urbanfarmschool on February 26, 2009.