Years ago we opened up our on-farm store, a quaint little “store” that was housed in my parent’s basement. We would open up once, maybe twice a week for a few hours, and welcome customers as they would shop our meats and other local farm products. I’m sure there are at least a few customers who remember our little farm store.
However the hurdles to get the farm store up and running were kinda difficult for our small farm business at the time. It was expensive buying the necessary glass front freezers, we had to make modifications to my parents basement (bless them) and we had to block out chunks of our schedule every week to man the store. That was difficult to do when I was still working as a registered nurse full time and juggling running the farm at the same time.
But we kept the farm store going for a few years before making the decision to close the store down and focus our energy on our online farm store. A store where customers could shop 24/7 without us manning the counter, and without all the overhead.
Now don’t get me wrong, the on-farm store was a great experience! I do miss greeting customers who would frequent our quaint little store. And who knows? Maybe one day the on farm store will come back in some shape or form.
But what made us start the on-farm store in the first place you may ask?
It was a single person’s request. You see, a family friend had told us that they didn’t have the freezer space to buy a 1/4 beef or 12 chickens. They wanted to buy individual cuts on a regular basis, just like at the grocery store.
So naturally as a small business that was hungry for new customers, we tried to oblige that one individual and went through the process of opening up our farm store.
Wouldn’t you know it though, that individual never stepped foot in our farm store. Lesson learned, don’t change your whole business model for the requests of a few.
Fast forward a few years, and our online business is growing nicely. And as customers begin coming from farther and farther away, I keep hearing a new request. “Can you ship?”
“No, no we can’t ship”. That was my answer. “I’m not falling for that trick again!” I thought to myself. We even started getting calls from states as far as California, asking about shipping. The answer was still the same: “No, we don’t ship.”
But, as local traffic has gotten worse and worse, and our customer base in surrounding states has grown, the answer has just now changed: “Yes, we do ship!”
Starting now, we will begin shipping orders to 23 states (plus D.C) up and down the eastern seaboard. While we are excited to see what new markets and places this will place us in, we are starting tp ship primarily for our existing customers.
A number of you have been making long drives from all around to the farm, and I want to say thank you for doing that for the past few years. And for those of you on our home delivery routes, you will now get your orders shipped straight to you!
Bare with us as we figure out the pricing and scheduling for this new service. But we are trying to make it as easy as possible for you! You will now see the option to add shipping to your order on our checkout page.
This comes just in time for our bulk buys release next week, and we will be able to ship those bulk buys as well! If you have any questions, please let me know, I would be happy to help.
As always, thanks for being here, you are appreciated as a valuable customer to our family farm business!