Owner: Ken Zeigenbein
Location: Waynesville, Mo.
History: “My family was always in the livestock transportation business,” owner Ken Zeigenbein explained of his feed and farm supply business just a couple of short blocks off of the Waynesville, Mo., city square. “After I got married, I decided I’d go into business for myself as a landscaper. I found out real quick that was fine for the summer but you could starve to death as a landscaper in this part of the country in the winter time,” he added with a laugh.
“When this business came available, I bought it and we operated in the original location for nine years and then moved it over here 19 years ago. We also have greenhouses at this location, allowing us to sell annuals, perennials, herbs, planters, probably the biggest selection of plants in town for the spring and early summer season.”
Products and Services: “We have a lot of seed in bags and packages. We don’t do bulk seed because we just don’t have the space. We are a Purina dealer and we also offer Crescent feeds, out of Springfield, which are a little more economical for a lot of our customers,” Kenny continued.
A stroll around the store includes everything from local produce on the front counter to a variety of feeds, including a wide selection of dog foods, fish food, horse feed and deer feed. Clover, rye and a selection of other grass seeds and wild bird feed are found in open barrels as well as bagged. Along a stretch of shelves other feeds can be found that include those for ferrets and hedgehogs, as well as pet collars and harnesses and a variety of other farm and ranch needs.
“We try to go above and beyond in the area of customer satisfaction in any way possible. Now we know in today’s world that is not always possible but 99.9 percent of the time, that is what we do here. We work hard to listen to our customers and offer what they are interested in. That is our bottom line.
“As far as the future is concerned, I guess when I’m done here, this will all be over. I have three daughters, no sons. One is a school teacher, one is a nurse and the third one is in training to be a nurse, so they are not interested in keeping the business going,” Ken shrugged with a smile, obviously not too concerned about that eventual reality.”
Between now and then, Zeigenbein Feed and Farm Supply will continue to meet the needs of local customers without being overtaken by computers, automated answering recordings or other impersonal services.
“We like it when people come through the door, stop and take a deep breath and say, ‘this reminds me of when I used to go to the store with Grandpa.’ We like old things and the old ways of doing things, the old values. We like to remember those things and those times and we talk about them here. You know, things that we should’ve written down in a book so we wouldn’t forget them!”
