SoMo Farm and Ranch Supply
General Manager: Mike Frieze
Location: Springfield, Mo.
History: “SoMo began in 1989 in a small north Springfield location almost as a closed coop. It wasn’t intended to be open all day long. In 1998 it relocated to the current West Kearney location where we now have more than an acre of property and a 65,000 square-foot warehouse. I came to SoMo as general manager in 2007.
“SoMo is a $12.5 – 13 million-per-year investor-owned business. About 35 percent of that is retail and 65 percent wholesale. We serve an area of a 100-mile radius.”
Wholesale and Retail Products: “There are fewer and fewer independent feed and farm supply stores but we supply many in the region with inventory for resale. We do so many other things than feed. We expanded our retail lines in 2004 from what started as an experimental retail store. One real advantage our retail has is the selection of product. We offer specialized areas like show feeds, livestock show feeds and supplies, to some degree equine. Also products that are more specialized and high tech for beef and dairy.
“Our retail niche is people who live out of town but work in Springfield. We provide a service to the small local producer/customer with just a horse or two or a few sheep. They’ll stop by. Our retail business has become more suburbanized.”
Industry Trends: “Our retail is alive and well and thriving but after many years of decline in the wholesale side of the business due to a contraction of the industry – there being fewer independent feed and farm supply stores in the country – there has been a rebound in the last 2 years on the wholesale side.
“Our retail business tends to be more specialty products like caged bird food, high-end dog food, lawn and garden – premium-line garden type items and apparel.
“With the better cattle prices we’ve enjoyed for about the last year, that has helped us be successful in adding new product lines to retail like our cattle handling equipment and livestock feeding equipment.”
