Geauga Feed and Grain Supply opens new doors

By Ann Wishart

A promise became a reality in October when Kevin O’Reilly Jr. officially changed locations of his business Geauga Feed and Supply.

O’Reilly said he closed the doors of the building at 10418 Kinsman Road at midnight and the next morning he opened the doors of the new Geauga Feed and Supply about half a mile east on Kinsman Road.

It being Sunday, the store wasn’t open for business, but that didn’t stop the curious passers-by from taking a look.

“People have been stopping all day, but they mostly peer in the window and drive away,” O’Reilly said. He was standing on the clean, refinished oak flooring he reclaimed from a school in Warren before it was torn down. He was surrounded by the normal detritus of moving day – half-full boxes of random items, snacks by the door and partially stocked shelves. His father, Chardon attorney Kevin O’Reilly Sr., was setting up a display at one end of the show room.

“He works for pizza,” his son joked.

Besides making sure the cash register was working, the younger O’Reilly was grappling with circumstances beyond his control. The new shelves he had ordered were delayed in shipment and wouldn’t be delivered until Tuesday or Wednesday. His plan to open the store Monday fully-stocked was derailed – or at least delayed.

“We’ll be open. People will just have to be patient,” O’Reilly said. The 6,000-square-foot warehouse behind the 2,500-square-foot showroom was packed with a wide variety of animal feed and bedding. Even if the showroom’s main attraction for the first week is the display of copper bird feeders, customers seeking staples will be able to buy them.

O’Reilly announced his intention of moving his business last July. The community impatiently watched all summer and fall as the old concrete-block hardware store was transformed into an entirely different structure with plate glass windows, a natural wood and rock façade, lined parking lot, and patterned concrete sidewalk.

“We kept the construction local,” O’Reilly said. Plum Creek Construction owned by Andy Hershberger and Auburn Concrete did much of the work on the front. Van Ness Stone Inc. supplied the stone and Frank Kaminski laid the floor and painted the interior, he said. His neighbor to the west, Ironman Contractor Supply, created the concrete countertop where customers will check out their goods.

The grand opening is planned for Saturday, November 14, with lots of door prizes planned. O’Reilly praised the generosity of his regular suppliers.

“The vendors have been really good to us,” he said