About Us

The Homeport
Farm Mart
416 Argonne Road
P.O. Box 785
Winder, GA 30680
 
770.867.1601
Email

Map

Hours:
Mon.-Fri. 8-6
Sat. 8-5
Sun. Closed

The Homeport Farm Mart, originally known as The Homeport, had its actual beginnings in Monroe, GA.  Winder natives, John and Joan Hammond, pictured left, started The Homeport  in March of 1989.  John and Joan both came from farming backgrounds.  John's experience with the Northrup King Seed Company as a salesman was an added asset.  Given the success of the Monroe store, John and Joan began to look at the possibility of opening a second store closer to home.  In April of 1990, they opened the Winder location of The  Homeport at 669 Atlanta Highway, sharing a strip mall location with other businesses.

As the business began to grow, there were challenges of space and logistics.  John and Joan began to add box trailers for extra storage.  Eventually they had to rent a mini warehouse located directly behind the store.  FRM, a feed manufacturer, began leaving a trailer for the Hammond’s to use because feed movement continued to increase.  Athens Seed Company also helped in the storage of fertilizer during the busy spring season.  John and Joan thought about adding on to the rented location or moving out to a location built specifically for the business, however, John and Joan were getting ready to retire: long term debt just didn’t sound that appealing.

In mid 1997, with thoughts of retirement and caring for aging parents, John and Joan started thinking seriously of an exit strategy.  Because their two daughters, and their families, had very successful careers they were not interested in coming into the business.  So, John and Joan approached Terry and Cindy England, pictured right, about purchasing The Homeport.

Terry had been farming truck crops, operating an on the farm, produce and Georgia product gift basket retail business (on the family farm in Barrow County, Georgia) and working to help develop the Alabama Farm Bureau in Cullman, Alabama while Cindy stayed behind to work her job at Panasonic as well as helping with the farm while Terry was gone during the week. Terry’s mom and dad, Kenneth and Ester England as well as his aunt and uncle, Sonny and Reba Boss, were vital in the farming and gift basket enterprises, often working late into the evening to wash and box produce during the summer months and making gift baskets during the holiday season.

By the time John and Joan approached Terry and Cindy about buying The Homeport, Terry had already decided that Alabama wasn’t where he wanted to continue working.  The people and the cause were great but the wear of being away from family was taking its toll.  The Homeport sounded like a great fit and would allow Terry an entrance into the retail farm supply and hardware industry that he had wanted for so long.  It would require walking away from the produce business that the family had worked hard to build but it would be worth the change. Cindy, ready for the change also, would have to work on Saturdays and off days from Panasonic.

In September of 1997, Terry notified the Alabama Farm Bureau that he would be leaving in October.  He would be coming back home and working with John and Joan in November to start learning the business. After the Christmas holiday of ’97, Terry started working full time with plans of purchasing The Homeport at the end of June 1998.

On July 1, 1998, Terry and Cindy officially purchased the Winder location of The Homeport. The Monroe location had been sold a couple years earlier and the name was changed to Walton Feed and Seed (it closed around 2000).

After settling in just a little, Terry and Cindy realized that a new location would be necessary to continue to grow the business. Terry and Cindy are lifelong residents, born and raised, in Barrow County.  They knew the County well.  They began searching for a new location to move The Homeport.  Wanting to keep the business near the original location, they began looking in the area for available property. Terry having known Mr. P.R. “Bobby” Smith most of his life, called Mr. Smith to inquire about the piece of land that was the former home to Smith’s Piedmont Seed De-linting Plant located in the former town of Russell. While Mr. Bobby was not interested in selling that particular piece of property, he was willing to talk about two other pieces that he and his family owned. After Terry and his Dad, Kenneth, looked at the two possibilities, they decided the current location of The Homeport Farm Mart would be ideal for the new store.

In late 1998 and early 1999, planning of what the new location would look like began in earnest. Terry had seen an interesting ad in a trade magazine advertising the Farm Mart program and it was asking, “Does your store have too much iron in its diet?” The ad showed someone dumping a bucket of screwdrivers into a cattle feed trough while asking the question. Needless to say, this ad caught Terry’s eye since that was what he was encountering with the hardware wholesale companies he had talked to up to that point – to much hardware and not enough farm supply items. Terry then contacted the Farm Mart organization in Colorado and thus began one of the most beneficial partnerships that The Homeport would come to know.

The Farm Mart group (a part of the larger Pro Hardware Group) got Morristown, Tennessee based and Pro Group distributor Wallace Hardware in touch with Terry. Within days, Wallace Hardware’s long time salesman Stanley Price came calling on The Homeport, to share the Farm Mart program and the Wallace Hardware philosophy and Christian based principles. The fit was just what Terry and Cindy had been looking for a large hardware wholesaler with a small business attitude and beliefs. From that point forward Mr. Stanley (as we still call him, he was a Golden Gloves boxer during his school days and is still working for Wallace on a part time basis as its longest serving employee except for Mr. Wallace himself) became a fixture around The Homeport as the new store was being planned, built and stocked. Mr. Stanley’s advice proved to be “Price”less during the whole process and continues to be to this day. During his over 50 years in the hardware business, he has seen what works and doesn’t work, so when he advised that a change be made in the layout of the store, his advice was taken without question.

Terry and his dad, Kenneth, called on their lengthy construction background to start planning the new building and laying out the buildings on the new site. A greenhouse/nursery operation was also being added to the site plan to handle the large seasonal plant sales business that The Homeport had developed at the old location.

Terry and Cindy closed on the new property at the corner of Georgia Highway 53 and Argonne Road in September of 1999 and clearing and grading started almost immediately. They also enlisted a company that Terry’s Dad had a long time relationship with to construct the new steel structure, Aldridge Inc. out of Athens, Georgia to assemble a custom designed Butler brand building on the new site. Butler Buildings have long been considered the premium steel structures on the market, they have also had a longstanding relationship with the FFA (formerly known as the Future Farmers of America) in which Terry and his Dad were both members of during their high school days. Terry remembered that involvement as they were getting ready to build, and having been the recipient of a Butler Building scholarship in high school, the choice seemed simple – the only bid and the only choice would be a Butler Building.

Kenneth kept the whole construction process sped along by organization and hard work. This allowed the building to be ready for setting up of the retail area in early January of 2000. Aldridge had originally told Terry that the building would be ready mid – April, but he knew that wouldn’t be the case with “Daddy” on the job. Greg Lanthier of Lanthier’s Heating and Air, told the other subcontractors that this would be the case when they were laughing about the schedule that Kenneth kept outlining. He should have known, he grew up doing heating, air conditioning and plumbing for Kenneth and was used to being pushed toward completion on every job.

The Wallace set up crew came in and started assembling shelves and stocking right after the New Year was over (the Y2K bug didn’t bite after all) with a February 1st opening in mind.

By this time two of what would become long time employees would come to work and help in the transition and move. Terry’s first cousin, Tony Boss, moved back to Winder in September of 1999 to begin working (as he still does) with The Homeport and would put in many hours during the setup, layout and move of the old store. Beginning in January of 2000, Terry’s Mom, Ester, left her job with the Georgia Agri-business Council to come to work to help with all aspects of the new store and the challenges that came with the expansion. Both Tony and Ester continue today as key members of The Homeport Farm Mart family, Terry couldn’t do it without them.

The Homeport Farm Mart was ready for opening on February 1st, 2000 through the hard work of a lot of folks. Terry and Cindy were humbled by the outpouring of help during the weekend of the move. Family, customers and friends turned out to brave the freezing rain and sleet to move the store from the close of business on Saturday noon through the following Monday in order to be able to open at 8 o’clock on Tuesday, February 1st. These folks will never know the gratitude that Terry and Cindy still feel toward them for the help and friendship that they have always displayed.

The morning of the first started with a dedication to the Lord of the building and the business by the Pastor that had married Terry and Cindy 13 years earlier, Reverend John Burchfield from Midway Christian Church. The new store was a success from the first day due to this blessing.

As the new Homeport Farm Mart continued to grow, other stores from all over the Country came to see the first new Farm Mart east of the Mississippi built from the ground up. The National Retail Hardware Association bestowed the honor of “Young Retailer of the Year” in 2002 for the accomplishments that The Homeport Farm Mart team had made to Terry in San Diego, California.

The products have changed since July 1st of 1998, but the commitment remains to put the Lord 1st in all that The Homeport Farm Mart does. By doing this, all other things will take care of themselves and the customer will be taken care of in a respectful and courteous manner.

The Homeport Farm Mart is very active in the community with the Partners in Education program at Russell Middle School, sponsoring the FFA Organization on the local, State and National levels, the 4-H program on the local, State and National levels, as a member of the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce and numerous other organizations and causes.

We are proud to say that we are one of the stores that in 1999, started the “new” farm store building boom.  We were the first new from the ground up Farm Mart Store east of the Mississippi River.  From the day we opened, literally dozen’s of other stores looking to build new facilities have visited our store to learn what we did right and what we would do different the second time around.  We have continued to visit other stores to get new ideas for our store as well, after all, there is no need to re-invent the wheel!  While we may not be the newest, most polished or prettiest store out there, we are proud of what we have built here with the help of the Lord and our customers.

The Homeport Farm Mart will continue to strive to understand the needs of its customers and employees in order to make the store a great place to work and shop.