Locations: Viola, Mountain View and Pineville, Ark., Missouri locations: Hartville and Willow Springs.
Owners: Keith and Rebecca Gray, and Jessica Brown
Viola Location Manager: Joe Stender
History: The Grow Smart location in Viola, Ark., began about five years. The Pineville location was the first in Arkansas, followed by Viola and Mountain View.
Products and Services: Viola manager Joe Stender said the Pineville location has a small mill for some bulk feed, as well as a store front, but the Viola and Mountain View stores do not have mills, and offer a bagged Grow-Smart feed, as well as many other items.
“Here are Viola, I have a full-range of feed for horses, cattle, goats, sheep, poultry and even catfish food and pet food.”
Grow Smart offers its own line of feeds, as well as some Nutrena products.
“We carry seven or eight different kinds of mineral tubs for cattle,” Joe said. “We have a good selection. About 75 percent of our feed is Grow Smart brand.”
A full line of animal heath supplies, including vaccinations, dewormers and other items are available for livestock and pets.
“We have just about everything in vet supplies you can imagine,” Joe said. “We have a good selection of goat and sheep medicines, which can be pretty hard to find around here. We also have milk replacers for sheep, goats, cattle and horses. We also keep a lot of seasonal stuff. It’s gardening season, and we have lots of plants for sale. We also have fencing supplies and some hardware for haying equipment. We keep blades for mowers and tedders, and bolts. We have the stuff to keep people making hay.”
Joe said there are plans in the works to construct a greenhouse/nursery as the Viola location this year.
“We are hoping to have that ready for next season,” he said.
Business philosophy: Joe said he works hard to know each of his customers, and offer all the assistance possible.
“I get 1,000 questions a day, and I help as much as I can,” Joe said. “I’ve even had customers bring by goats and sheep and I trim them out front for them. About 70 percent of my calls are just questions and not actually selling anything.”
