$110 idea launched a half century business

RUSSELLVILLE — Customers have walked through the doors of Stidham Feed & Seed for more than half a century looking for everything from garden seed and livestock feed to handmade leather belts and dog collars.

The story began with a $110 insurance check and an idea sparked at a coon dog field trial.

Barry Stidham’s father, Billy, worked as a tooland- die machinist while spending weekends competing in coon dog field trials. During one event in Madison, he noticed another vendor selling handmade leather dog collars.

After someone backed into his truck, Billy received a $110 insurance check. Rather than pocketing the money, he bought leather, buckles and other supplies and began making dog collars in the late 1960s in a small white building he built behind the family’s home south of Russellville.

Stidham was about five years old when he began traveling with his father to hunting events, flea markets and field trials, helping sell the handcrafted collars they made together. Within three or four years, the growing business outgrew the backyard shop.

The family moved from that small white building that’s no longer standing to its current location in October 1972, where Stidham Feed & Seed has remained for more than 50 years.

CONTRIBUTED/BARRY STIDHAM
Billy Stidham (left) and his son Barry Stidham worked together in Stidham Feed and Seed for many years.

As customers requested additional products, the business expanded beyond handmade leather collars into a full-service feed and seed store. At one time, the company wholesaled leather dog collars to customers in 29 states.

Today, the store carries feed, seed, animal health products, deer food plot seed, hats and other farm supplies. Stidham still handcrafts leather dog collars and leather belts.

For the past four years, Stidham has operated the business largely on his own following his father’s death and his brother’s retirement. He opens and closes the store, orders inventory, unloads trucks, waits on customers, keeps the books, and still finds time to work in the leather shop.

“Dad started this business having to do everything until we got out of school and came in full time,” Stidham said. “Now, I’m running it full time by myself and doing everything to keep it going. I feel close to my dad,” he said. “That’s the number one thing. That’s my number one driver.”

Stidham said the greatest reward is the people he meets. He said the store draws regular customers from nine counties in northwest Alabama and northeast Mississippi, especially during gardening season.

Phillip Hamilton said he’s been shopping there almost 20 years.

“The Stidham family has been real good about taking care of all our farm needs,” he said. “They know what people need, and providing that for the community is important.”

Some customers tell Stidham they remember climbing on feed sacks while their parents or grandparents shopped. Others stop by simply to tell him they miss his father.

“They appreciate me still being here, keeping my dad’s business going,” Stidham said.

Billy Stidham became known not only for the products he sold but also for his stories and his willingness to help others.

“He was a very gifted storyteller,” Stidham said. “He had a memory like an elephant. My dad would have laughed if you’d have told him that he had made the impact on people that he did,” Stidham said. “He had no idea. He was just being himself.”

After Billy Stidham died, customers continued stopping by to share memories.

“It was like you were stuck in a perpetual funeral home visitation line,” Stidham said. “People that didn’t make his visitation or his funeral would come in and weep that my dad had passed.”

Asked what would make his father proudest today, Stidham didn’t hesitate.

“That I’ve stuck with it,” he said.

The family tradition now spans four generations. Recently, Stidham taught his grandson, Samuel Ferris, the same craft.

“He was basically … you show him one time,” Stidham said. “It was almost like it was in his genetics to know what to do the next time.”

Looking ahead, Stidham hopes the business continues to be known for the same qualities that built it.

“I hope people think there was a place where they always felt welcoming and that they knew that their business was appreciated,” he said.