Acquiring the oldest business in Zion — the IUP General Feed Store founded in 1924 by Italian immigrant Ross Aiuppy — could be a challenge for any budding entrepreneur.
But James Richards, only months out of high school in 2019 when Aiuppy’s granddaughter Debby Ramsey started to think about selling the family enterprise, said a “happy accident” led him to choose business ownership over college or a trade.
“I had a landscape business and was looking for a place to store my equipment for the winter,” he said. “I heard the feed store might have some space. I came in and we started talking. It was a happy accident.”
Ramsey said her grandfather did business with Richards’ great-grandfather. Both came to Zion from elsewhere for similar reasons. As the current generation started to talk, the idea of Richards buying the business appealed to Ramsey. It would essentially remain a “family business.”
“I came in every day and worked,” Richards said of his apprenticeship until he turned 18 in November of 2019, and could legally buy IUP. “I met the customers and learned the store.”
Then IUP was his. The coronavirus pandemic hit a few months later, but he weathered it and is happy with the economic performance. He knows how to combine seeds or food into a proper mix for different purposes.
The IUP General Feed Store will be the grand marshal in the Zion Labor Day Parade Monday along Sheridan Road in Zion, honoring the business for its century of service to the community.
Starting the store in 1924 on 26th Street near his home, Ramsey said her grandfather gave customers baby chicks in the early days. He had containers with hundreds. When they asked what to feed them, he would sell them the food.
Remaining on 26th Street until 1976, Aiuppy moved it to a downtown location on Shiloh Boulevard, where it remained until Ramsey moved the shop to its current Sheridan Road site.
While Zion is not an agricultural community today, Aiuppy’s daughter Sadie Stahl said there were farms nearby 100 years ago and for long after that. People in the city had animals around their homes.
“A lot of people farmed in the city,” Stahl said. “There were chickens in the backyards. There were goats, rabbits and even cows.”
Aiuppy operated IUP until his death in 1991 at the age of 98. Though he had help, Ramsey said he was very involved. Pat Stahl, Aiuppy’s grandson and Ramsey’s brother, took control for seven years before she became the owner in 1998.
As Zion changed, so did IUP. Richards said wild bird seed is his best-selling product. He has a variety of mixes. Some he prepares himself. He works with the Lake County Audubon Society to get a sense of what is needed. A lot of customers are seniors.
“Older folks who can’t have pets come here for their bird feeders,” he said. “The birds are their pets. The birds give them the joy of having something to care for.”
Through his “apprenticeship” and his first few months of operating his own business, Richards said things were going well. Then in March 2020, the pandemic kept people away. He recorded his lowest sales ever in April of 2020. Then things got better.
“People started growing their own gardens and came in for the seeds,” he said. “They also started raising chickens and rabbits, and we sold them the feed.”
Along with feed for animals and seeds for gardens, Richards learned how to mix grass seed, including Aiuppy’s special mix — IUP Grass Seed. It is a blend of different grasses designed to keep a lawn green and healthy through the spring, summer and fall.
“Some come up quickly,” he said. “Some form root structures which keep it coming up year after year.
Ramsey said the store was a meeting place during her grandfather’s time and her time. Richards has maintained the atmosphere, welcoming customers and getting to know both them and their needs.
“This is a great place for conversation,” Ramsey said. “It’s a warm place to come.”
