Tiny 227-year-old feed mill entering online global marketplace
Online mouse-to-mouse transactions are on the way, owner Ronald Dawson said. Going global is a way to boost sales at a business that’s 227 years old and predates the creation of the state of Tennessee by 18 years.
“Our customer base was dwindling. The Internet allows us to expand the customer base,” said Dawson, who in 1972 purchased the mill and general store from George St. John.
Dawson doesn’t know how to use a computer, and runs the business from his desk in the middle of the store. He uses a handmade price board to calculate the price of grain.
People trickle in — 50 to 60 — a day to select from the 1,400 or so items that range from feed and farm supplies, to crafts and homemade preserves.
The inventory has expanded as some customers have turned into suppliers.
“If a customer makes crafts as a hobby, we ask them to bring them in and we will sell them,” Dawson said.
The venture into 21st century techno-commerce is coming with the help of Dawson’s Los Angeles-based son, Jay, who learned design at East Tennessee State University.
For much of its existence, the business milled flour and offered little else.
“Then George (St. John) purchased nuts and bolts, things he was using on the farm,” Dawson said. “It kind of evolved to everything he needed on the farm and other items customers requested.”
In addition to products for sale, the mill’s Web site. http://www.stjohnmillingco.com will present the history of the mill, which pre-dates the creation of the state of Tennessee and items commemorating the business’ long life.
Dragging the ancient mill into the realm of the Internet is just the latest twist in Dawson’s career path. He never planned to be proprietor of a feed mill.
“I was going to be a media director for a school system and had job offers in California and Chicago,” Dawson said. “When George (St. John) was nearing retirement age, he made me an offer to purchase the business.”