WESTMINSTER STATION -- Garin Clough says his decision to close the Community Feed Store is more about family than economics.
Clough, 43, grew up at the historic landmark 1902 mill, which is one of the cornerstones of the hamlet of Westminster Station. He said he wants to be able to follow his three daughters' field hockey careers - wherever their strong sports talents take them, and as a result is closing the store, which has been in business for 123 years.
Community Feed carries everything from chicken and sheep grain to birdfeeders, gloves and barnyard boots, seeds and starting supplies. There's a barn in back, full of bags of grain, hay, compressed shavings and everything the hobby farmer would need.
Inside the store, is a wide variety of birdfeeders, and seed, and racks of seed packets, and bins of cover-crop seeds: white clover, red clover, winter rye and conservation mix. There are dog treats, cat treats, chicken treats and horse treats. There's plenty of pet food.
There are watering tubs and buckets in a variety of colors, and fencing supplies, as well as seed starting supplies. There is a row of organic fertilizers and pesticides,
As of yet, Clough hasn't set a closing date, or started to advertise a closing sale.
Last year, he started a new career as an insurance salesman, and converted a corner of the store into his office. He says it's been a success selling insurance through American National Farm Insurance. Currently, he hasn't been able to sell home insurance, but that should be changing soon.
The business is not for sale, but the 1902 mill is, and Clough said he is already entertaining three offers or scenarios for the building. The adjoining rail tie could be a big attraction, he said.
Garin's grandfather, Erwin "Skip" Clough bought the mill in 1953 after working at the store in the 1940s, and become a partner in 1945.
Garin said his father, Paul Clough, bought the business from Erwin, and in 2010 Garin bought it from Paul.
He and his wife Maria have three daughters: Olivia, Katherine and Anna, and none have expressed interest in eventually running the store, he said.
Two of his daughters have already won scholarships to Northfield Mount Herman to play field hockey, and one of his daughters is already being scouted by Division 1 schools, he said.
"They are really really good," he said, adding that his youngest daughter will soon follow her sisters to Northfield Mount Herman School, which is located just over the Vermont state line in Massachusetts. His girls commute every day, but they love the school and the opportunities there, he said.
"It's fun to watch and I don't want to miss it," he said of his daughters' games.
According to a history of the business prepared by Garin's mother, Dania Clough of Bellows Falls, Garin started as a young boy working at Community Feed in 1992, and after graduating from the University of Vermont in 2002, worked at a similar store in the Williston area, Guy's Farm and Yard for two years until 2004, when he returned to Community Feed, working for his parents.
In 2010, the store had undergone a major reconstruction that tripled the retail space, his mother's history said.
Clough turned a corner of the store into his insurance office last year, and he said it has been a success, and it allows him to pursue a career where the hours aren't so demanding and he can follow his daughters' activities.
He said that agriculture is declining in the area, despite some large successful farms in Westminster and adjoining towns.
But even the number of small farms are declining, he said. People aren't raising chickens like they used to, and the number of people keeping horses is also declining, he said.
The word is spreading that Clough is shutting down in the near future, although no date has been set, and the community has responded with disappointment but support.
Wanda West of Westminster said she's been coming to the store for 60 years, when she came with her family.
She has horses, and goats and chickens, and today, she's looking for bales of shavings for bedding.
"I want to do local," she said of her loyalty to the store. "I don't like the internet." She'll be back in a few days after the order of hay stretcher or pellets comes in.
"I'll be back Friday or Saturday," she tells Clough.
"We sell necessities, we sell what people need," he said. Other, similar stores that compete with Community Feed have more gifts, he said.
The nearby Tractor Supply Co. and Agway, both across the Connecticut River in Walpole, N.H., have not had a huge impact on his business, he said.
The COVID pandemic, which started in 2020, had more of an impact, he said, and pushed people to ordering things online. "People develop habits," he said, noting how he'll make some deliveries (he has a grain route) and will see a Chewy box (a well-known online pet supplier).
COVID and the war in Ukraine have had a big impact on the cost of grain. Before COVID, a load of grain would cost $11,000, but now it's between $16,000 and $17,000. Grain that used to cost $5 or $6 a bag in 2004, now costs anywhere from $18 to $25 to $28, he said.
"It's been a great business to be in," he said, as he loaded a customer's order of shavings into their vehicle. "It's been a good run. It's time to move on in my life. My life is just too busy."