Tree City Feed, located at 107 Lake St. in Kent, has permanently closed its doors as of Aug. 30.
The feed store sold pet food for dogs and cats, bird seed and grass and wildflower seeds, as well as carried products for poultry and livestock.
Phillip Moore bought the feed store over two years ago from Todd Weiss, who had operated the business in that location since 2013.
During the period that Weiss owned the business, his customers used the parking lot of a neighboring business, Kent Cycle, to park while shopping at the store, because the feed store only has three parking spots per their lease. The business also used the parking lot to unload delivery trucks onto the feedstore’s city-approved loading ramp that ends abruptly at the property line of the two businesses.
But in May, things took a turn for the worse for Moore when he was watching a band play at North Water Brewing Co., which sits adjacent on the west side of Tree City Feed.
“I believe it was the first week of May, I was down here on a Saturday night getting some beers with some friends at North Water,” Moore said. “One of my friends’ band was playing at the brewery and he had parked on the other side of the feed store, technically in Kent Cycle’s lot, just on the other side of my building, where I usually parked my car before all this stuff started. After the show he went out and his car was towed and there were a series of cones lined up on the concrete, right between my store and Kent Cycle.”
The parking cones on the property line between the two businesses became a permanent fixture from then on.
Moore said that, after Kent Cycle put up no parking signs and parking cones on the property line, he had two of his “worst sales months.” The only other way to enter the feed store had been through the driveway designated by his lease, which Moore said was dangerous because it’s a sharp turn that makes it difficult for northbound customers to see southbound traffic.
Moore had rented his building and the lot it sits on from Don Schjeldahl, the owner of North Water Brewing Co. Moore said he believes the parking dispute stemmed from Kent Cycle’s owner, Stefan Meyer, wanting North Water Brewing to pay him for the use of his parking lot.
Both Meyer and Schjeldahl declined to comment on this story.
After Moore realized the dispute wasn’t going to turn out in his favor, he came to an agreement with the owner of the former Richard’s Flower Shop at 1312 N. Mantua St. to move the feed store to that building.
He then filed an application with the zoning department to relocate the feed store there. But the property owner did not submit the required commercial plans for a new tenant, which would have had to be approved by the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals.
“We would move to Richard’s Flower Shop if they would approve it,” Moore said. “We would have moved last month, or yesterday if it were possible, but they don’t want to approve that site. I guess there’s regulations there between parking, between fire exits, and all those things. We had a plan with them so we could move in in July and August, but they kicked the can down the road and said it’s going to take some time. They said you gotta start this process over. It’s just been frustrating.”
Moore gave up trying to relocate the business and is seeking employment elsewhere.
For customers looking for a new outlet to buy feed, Dussel Farm and Feed Store at 1109 Old Forge Rd. is now the nearest feed store to downtown Kent.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the City of Kent rejected the application to move to the former location of Richard’s Flower Shop. In fact, the owner of the property failed to submit commercial plans for a new tenant.
