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FARMER JIM'S/ Falcon feed store a fixture for livestock owners
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 7, 2002 by Jeanne Davant
It's spring, and baby chicks snuggle and cheep in wire-covered tubs at Farmer Jim's Feed in Falcon. Miss Kitty nurses her newborn kittens in a cardboard box near the checkout counter.
And customers flock to buy feed and supplies for their animals at this little store on the prairie, which also serves as an informal community center.
The outpost at 7125 Meridian Road, 15 miles east of Colorado Springs, has been a fixture for as long as locals can remember.
Ammie and Shannon Vincent bought the store five years ago from Jim and Lisa Day. Before that, the store had several other owners and different names. Nobody's sure just how far back it goes.
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But the store has survived the arrival of large chain feed stores such as Big R, which opened a year and a half ago a few miles to the east. Farmer Jim's maintains a loyal base of customers who like the friendly, home-town service.
"It's kind of like an old-fashioned general store," said Deborah Barker, who stopped in last week to buy Kid Milk Starter for her goats. "When you come in, you like to have someone say, 'Hi, how are the children?'"
Barker, who lives on a 15-acre farm, said the Vincents stand by her in emergencies.
"I get my feed delivered on a moment's notice," she said.
Janet Ford lives in Monument and drives over to Farmer Jim's to buy feed for her horse, which is boarded in Falcon.
"I started coming (to Farmer Jim's) when I had 10 acres and three horses near here," she said. "I'm still coming."
Barker and Ford are typical customers, Ammie Vincent said. The store supplies feed for some big spreads, but most of her customers live on mini-ranches. "We know almost every customer," she said. "They're all very wonderful people. It makes our hard work very rewarding."
Feed sales are the mainstay of Farmer Jim's business. Stacks of feed sacks fill about two-thirds of the 2,000-square-foot metal building.
Ammie Vincent takes customers' orders in the retail store in the front of the building and radios them to her husband in the warehouse. The heavy sacks are loaded onto customers' trucks,or delivered to livestock owners as far away as Longmont, Larkspur or Divide. One part-time and three full-time employees help out.
Horse feed accounts for about 50 percent of feed sales; Purina Equine Senior Feed, at $9.95 for a 50-pound sack, is the best seller. The store also carries Purina and Manna Pro feeds for cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, llamas, dogs, cats and other small animals.
"But we can feed every animal, from alligators to zebras," Vincent said. She has special-ordered monkey diet, feed for elephants and camels when the circus came to town and lion feed for big-cat refuges.
In the retail store, customers find products you just can't get anywhere else: economy horse halters for $9.95; Twinkle glitter for horse manes and tails, at $12.95; two shelves of supplements and medications for horses and cattle; and Cowboy Magic Shampoo and Conditioner (for humans).
Vincent said she plans to expand her video rental offerings, which include "Fundamentals of Barrel Racing," "Horse Psychology" and "Tai Chi for the Equestrian."
As they stand in line, customers tap their feet to country music playing on a boom box next to the baby chicks or watch a video on basic horse care on a TV near the counter.
And nearly everyone takes a look at the east wall, where dozens of fliers advertise horses for sale, custom saddle racks, animal grooming and removal of junk cars and farm equipment.
Shannon, a former truck driver, and Ammie, a former El Paso County sheriff's deputy, already lived nearby when they bought Farmer Jim's in November 1997.
"We wanted to own our own business," Ammie Vincent said. "We have horses, dogs and cats, and we thought, 'What kind of business would we really like?'"
A loan from her mother and her retirement from the Sheriff's Office helped with the purchase.
The Vincents have won several awards from Purina for outstanding sales achievement. Feed sales expanded 35 percent the first year they owned the store and have grown at least 20 percent a year since then. They expect to sell more than 1,200 tons of feed this year.
"Big R probably took some of our customers, but most stayed loyal," Ammie Vincent said. Personal service was one reason; another was that Farmer Jim's is the authorized vendor for Purina.
Vincent thinks the arrival of the larger store also helped her business.
"Business brings business," she said. "It gives people a choice."
A bigger threat to Farmer Jim's and what it represents could be the suburbanization of the plains.
Many people are moving into new developments springing to life in the area. They bring their pets, but they don't own livestock, she said.
But Vincent is optimistic about the store's future.
"We don't have enough room," she said. "We want to expand."
- Jeanne Davant may be reached at 636-0368 or jeanned@gazette.com.
Best-kept secrets
"Best Kept Secrets," is an occasional feature about small, unique businesses or gathering spots.
