I just attended the Wild Bird Expo in Mexico. . . .Mexico, Missouri, that is. I wanted to tell you all about the new products that we will have for this holiday season, but first I need to report to you my impressions of our first time visit to this event. The Expo has little to do with Broad Ripple itself but it has a lot to do with all the folks that feed the birds or those retailers who sell bird feeding products. The Expo was amazing!

The people we met were more interesting than the products we saw. From Portland, OR to New Hampshire, to Florida to Texas, the attendees were drawn to this event because of their love of nature and birds. What is a given is that most retailers who start up a backyard birdfeeding store are avid backyard birdfeeding hobbyists. I would say 99% of the attendees had the love of the hobby before their store. I met many people who have been in the business for over twenty and thirty years. In fact Mel Toellner, owner of Goldcrest Distributing who held the Expo, began this business in 1995 after he owned his own store and had a difficult time finding vendors to supply what his customers wanted for their backyard birds.

Mel's story is a successful entrepreneurship that is still evolving. Retiring as a Purina distributor, he began Songbird Station retail store in Columbia, Mo. He began distributing products out of his garage. (Think how many businesses start in a garage: Apple, Lucas Oil). He has now grown into a wholesale operation that is the largest backyard nature product distribution company in North America, if not the world. His warehouse space in 2017 will be 107,000 square feet with a full FedEx eighteen wheeler coming and going daily.

All the company's growth has come by working with smaller operations - regional stores and mom-and-pop retailers just like Backyard Birds. The big boys (box stores and franchises) came calling, but Toellner long ago made a conscious decision to stick with smaller players. "This company serves independent retailers," he said. In 2000, it served 500 of them. Today, it serves 4,000 with a selection of more than 10,000 items. I want my readers to know the number of stores to see that our Broad Ripple store is keeping good company.

So we spent three days wandering the warehouse, picking out new products, and talking to other retailers and vendors. What fun! The most amazing part, unlike franchising where fees are involved, Mel invited all his store owners to come and shop at his expense. That's right. He booked and paid for our hotels and wined and dined us just for coming to Mexico. His generosity is amazing!

This holiday season, you will get to see what we found at the show. Puzzles surprisingly are big this year. A jigsaw puzzle on a table next to a window is a perfect winter activity for all ages. We selected some gorgeous cedar art, purchased some new hummingbird feeders for gift giving, and of course, ordered wooden feeders for your backyard. Chimes are still popular and we augmented them with some tinkling glass wind chimes. We also checked out all the new peanuts feeders. Peanuts are becoming one of our best sellers because of the birds they attract and the fact that there is no mess left under the feeders. We will also have a limited number of handmade fairy garden houses in the store this year. We look forward to your business this year. Remember there is always a coupon on our website www.feedbackyardbirds.com and you can check out our Facebook page and see local birds photographed by Jan Luckett. If you want to share bird photos with our Facebook fans, please send your jpeg to broadripplebackyardbirds@gmail.com. We hope to see you this holiday season. Shop local!