Entrepreneurs increase levels of sophistication

A decline in dairy farming's profitability caused many Amish to turn elsewhere.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
MESOPOTAMIA -- When it comes to business, a sophisticated system for buying, marketing and selling everything from bulk food to furniture keeps the Amish community afloat.
A generation ago, most Amish supported their families by farming. As recently as 1983, 33 percent of Amish heads of households in Trumbull and Geauga counties cited their primary occupation as dairy farming, reported Peter Gail, who has written three books about the Amish, including a directory of Amish businesses in northeastern Ohio.
Today, fewer than 6 percent of the Amish in that community cite dairy farming as their primary occupation. Increasing production costs and falling milk prices forced them to find other means of support.
Sideline operations: While many Amish families still operate dairy farms, the operations are sidelines, not primary sources of income. Many have gone to work in the building trades or factories. Some have turned to growing produce -- corn, tomatoes, peppers, berries, melons, cucumbers, eggplants, pumpkins -- and selling it at roadside stands. Others have gone into business selling bulk food, quilts, fabrics, baked goods, leather items or furniture.
The Amish generally establish these businesses by setting up small stores in their homes or in outbuildings. While not unknown, renting space in commercial districts is extremely unusual, Gail noted.
Many of these home-based businesses -- there are some 300 Amish businesses in Geauga and Trumbull counties -- cater chiefly to the Amish and have no signs. Outsiders may be unaware that these businesses even exist. Often, even those that welcome non-Amish customers or cater to tourists, offering quilts, collectibles and postcards, have nothing more than a small, hand-scrawled placard at the end of a road or driveway pointing the way.
Bulk food stores generally cater to the proprietors' Amish neighbors who find it inconvenient to go into town every time they need to shop, but they also welcome non-Amish customers. With little overhead, items at these stores are often less expensive than in the chain stores and are packaged in quantities suitable for large families. Fifteen pounds of sugar at Bricker's Foods & amp; Variety, 8655 Parkman-Mespo Road, Mesopotamia, cost $7.50; four pounds of brown sugar cost $1.80; and three pounds of quick-cooking oats are $1.65.
Unique goods: Bricker's also carries an eclectic selection of other merchandise: baby clothes made by owner Andy Bricker's daughter, afghans and quilts made by his wife, chairs made by his brother-in-law, sewing machines, kitchen utensils and greeting cards.
"We sell a lot of greeting cards and pickles," Bricker said, "and we get a lot of Yankee customers." The Amish refer to anyone who is not Amish as "Yankee" or "English."
Catering to Amish: End of the Commons General Store, at the intersection of state Routes 534 and 87 in Mesopotamia, also caters to the Amish. Although it is a popular tourist stop and is not Amish-owned, End of the Commons sells block ice, bulk foods and penny candy, all popular with Amish customers.
"A good 50 percent of our business is done with the Amish," said owner Ken Schaden. Schaden, his wife Margaret and their 11 children have owned and operated End of the Commons since 1982.
"From November through April, 80 percent of our business is with the Amish. Then, tourism takes over," Schaden said.
Recognizing that serving the Amish is the backbone of his business, Schaden said he and his family strive to meet their special needs.
A cash register open only to regular year-round customers allows the Amish to avoid waiting in long lines of tourists during the summer season, he said. Some 100 tour buses stop at the general store every year, plus thousands of other tourists traveling by car.
A home delivery service, which calls on 400 Amish families in the area, reduces the need for them to visit the store, Schaden added. Home delivery, which is offered exclusively to the Amish, accounts for 20 percent of End of the Commons' business. "Anything that is available in the store is available on the truck -- it's a convenience store on wheels -- bulk foods is one of our mainstays," he said.
Special care is taken in delivering things such as ice cream, which is frozen solid and wrapped in newspaper to keep it from melting before it is served. The Amish do not have electric refrigerator freezers but will sometimes buy ice cream to serve on warm summer evenings, Schaden explained.
Fuel: He also owns the service station and hardware store in the historic downtown and carries items there that are especially appealing to the Amish, such as kerosene and white gas, which they use in their lanterns and kitchen stoves. "We re-energize the batteries that they use in their buggies too," Schaden said. "The Amish are our steady bread and butter. They are the mainstay of our company." He said, "We know what they need, we've listened to them."
Around the corner, Eli Miller's Harness Shop, one of the few Amish businesses housed in a commercial storefront, offers handmade harnesses, bridles and other tack for the Amish as well as Yankee equestrians, small leather goods, homemade jams, books, postcards and collectibles.
The majority of Miller's business is from outside the immediate area. "Four-H'ers come here from throughout Ashtabula, Geauga and Trumbull counties," the proprietor said. Other customers, from as far as southern Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, ship saddles via UPS to be repaired. They learned about Miller's shop from an Associated Press story.
"After that story, people contacted me from a lot of areas," he said. Unlike some Amish businesses, Miller's Harness Shop has a telephone. The only light, however, comes through huge picture windows in the front of the store; there is no electricity.
Most of Miller's business involves saddle repair or other horse-related items although tourists "buy a lot of belts," he said. "I make the belts."
Miller has been in Mesopotamia for 35 years and said he has watched cottage industries slowly replace farming as the primary occupation in his community.
Need for businesses: Increasing prices for farmland, and a growing Amish population -- Miller estimates the number of Amish in the area doubles every 25 years -- are some of the reasons he said many of his friends and neighbors have gone into business. Most Amish businesses, Miller added, involve the building trades: timber products or home construction.
Wallace Miller, the owner of Country Pine Furniture and Crafts, 8847 N. Girdle Road, Mesopotamia, gave up selling produce two years ago and went into business selling indoor pine furniture. No one else in the area sells pine home furnishings, he said. "We thought we'd try something unique."
Wallace Miller doesn't make the furniture. Like many Amish retailers, he buys it from Amish furniture makers in Lancaster, Pa., who produce their wares in bulk. Because it would be impractical for him to drive his buggy to pick up his furniture orders, Miller hires a truck to pick up and deliver his inventory.
The advantage of selling furniture rather than produce, he said, "is if it doesn't sell today, it won't spoil like tomatoes did."
Sales were especially strong his first year in business, but have tapered off a little this year, Wallace Miller said. Most customers are visitors to the area or come from Lake County, Bainbridge and Mantua specifically to shop for home furnishings.
Country Pine carries a large selection of painted, stained and unfinished children's furniture, waste bins, storage and garden benches, dressers, hutches, chests and small craft items that people on bus tours can take with them, Miller said. He will custom-finish unfinished pieces if a customer requests.
Hardwood furniture: Miller's Furniture, which opened this summer in a downtown Mesopotamia storefront offers solid oak and cherry dining room furniture, end tables and rocking chairs made by Amish in Holmes County. Eli and Angie Miller opened the shop to supplement his income working for a cabinet shop in Middlefield.
They chose to offer oak and cherry furniture, Angie said, because there is only one other Amish shop offering comparable items in the area. Although she would have preferred to open the store at her home, she said that would have been impractical. The Miller family lives down a long dirt road that might confuse or deter potential customers, she explained. Downtown Mesopotamia is so busy, she added, it's got to be good for business.
Angie expects most furniture sales will be to people who live in the area. Tourists, she said, especially those on bus tours, buy crafts, swags, candles, quilts and wall hangings made by members of her family and friends. Miller's Furniture also accepts special orders.
kubik@vindy.com