By Jim Waldron – As Published in the 1992 Founder’s Review Magazine
There is a different group of customers now than in 1952, but Palace Feed Store still opens for business every morning on U.S. 301, six days a week. The person who will assist you is Helen Palace—just as she has been doing for 40 years.
Forty years ago, when Palace Feed Store opened on the opposite side of the road from its current location, most of its customers were poultry farmers who raised chickens and sold eggs. Helen and her late husband, Leo G. Palace, were poultry farmers themselves until a feed manufacturer convinced them to open a store. The company had a steady customer base, but since there was no feed store in Belleview at the time, it had to deliver feed directly to individual farms.
The Palaces agreed to open the store, and business has been steady since day one.
“Our first two customers were Mr. Hopper, the father of Bristow Hopper, who still lives here, and Alice Nesbitt, who was the librarian at the Belleview Library for many years,” Mrs. Palace recalled.
“In 1952, I could count 65 poultry farms around Belleview—I knew who owned them and where they were located. And I believe there were at least 10 more.”
Every one of those 75 farms has since closed—the last one about three years ago. But Mrs. Palace has adapted to changing times, attracting new customers and keeping the business thriving.
She remains the only business owner in Belleview to have operated the same business for 40 years.
“There is no secret,” she said. “I just don’t have enough sense to close the door.”
On a more serious note, Mrs. Palace emphasized the importance of accommodating customers. If someone needs an item she doesn’t carry, she directs them to a store that does.
She works just as hard for a small buyer as she does for a customer placing a large order.
Palace Feed Store maintains a friendly, “country” atmosphere. There is no air conditioner—only “natural air.”
Over the years, they have never hired an employee, except for a brief time after her husband’s passing.
“And I still came to work every day,” she said.
Mrs. Palace believes there is still a strong future for locally owned, family-run businesses—but they must be cautious.
“First, they have to be sure the business they’re going to open is needed,” she advised. “Second, they need to have an instinct for what needs to be done.”
