FORMER OWNER REACQUIRES FEED STORE

The fourth owner of Eggimann Feed and Seed, a store which specializes in feeds and seeds and related supplies, has become its sixth owner.

H.C. "Hank" Mellone, a former University of Missouri Extension Service employee, and his wife, Norma, acquired the business at 514 Independence in 1985, and operated it until July 1990, when it was sold to its fifth owner, Rick Martin.

"We reacquired the store this year," said Mellone. "The previous owner decided to close the store last fall.

"We like the business and love the old building," said Mellone, explaining the business was sort of an extension of his Extension career. "We really missed the customers, and several people had urged us to get back in the business."

Mellone will maintain the store's hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

"We opened earlier this month," said Mellone. "The response has really been encouraging. We're still in the process of building our inventory back to where it was a couple of years ago."

Garden seeds and supplies, including plants, are the "bread and butter of the operation," said Mellone. "This time of year for us is like the Christmas season for many retail operations."

The store also offers a variety of horse products, dog products, bird feeds and feeders and more.

Back at the store is Joe Burgfeld, who worked with the Mellones before the business was sold

Another fixture at the store is "Snuggles," a Texas Healer dog owned by the Mellones. "She will be spending a lot of time at the store again, too," said Mellone.

Snuggles' favorite spot at the store, weather permitting, is atop a bale of hay just outside the door.

Eggimann Feed was established on South Frederick in 1926 by O.E. Eggimann. It moved to its present site in 1938, and A.C. Brase joined the operation in 1943.

The Independence building originally housed Pollack Hide & Fur, and is still much the same today as it was in 1938, with high ceilings and sturdy wooden floors.