From feed to farrier's coal
Callahan's General Store focuses on customers

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

All in the family ... First cousins Verlin Callahan (left), Murray Callahan, and Mike Young (right) work to continue Earl Callahan's idea of providing a service to the area's residents. -- Staff photo by Taylor

April 28, 2005 - Just after World War II, Earl Callahan and three other young men, just back from the war, saw a need for area producers ... small and large ... to have a place to sell their animals and purchase feed. There was a prime opportunity, off the Bastrop Highway on Texas 183, ideal for such a facility.

So the foursome decided to go into business ... purchasing the auction barn and facility to make animal feed.

After several years, the group decided to get out of the auction barn business and just concentrate on making the best feed in the country. Eventually, Earl became the sole proprietor of Capitol Feed and Milling, and his first customers included "large-scale" farmers and ranchers who needed large quantities of feed for their animals.

The feed store grew into a successful business for Earl and his family, who have all worked to develop the business, which is now known as Callahan's General Store.

According to Mike Young, general manager of Callahan's and the son of one of Earl's daughters, the business' growth came when producers started asking for a variety of farm and ranch products, such as barbed wire for fencing.

In 1964, shortly after graduating from Texas A&M University (TAMU), Verlin Callahan was asked by his seven siblings to take over management of Callahan's, as their father Earl battled with illness.

Verlin saw opportunity to expand the business and add new customers, as the surrounding area's population grew with people who worked in Austin, but lived in the country on several acres which they farmed or ranched ... mostly on weekends. The four Callahan brothers decided they needed to add "standard" agricultural products and helpful ideas and methods to these "weekend farmers."

Mike Young, general manager of Callahan's, notes the business' original owner, Earl Callahan, saw a need to offer the area farmers a good, quality feed. Today, they sell about 20 different feeds, and even more varieties, for livestock, pets, fish and other wildlife. Plus Callahan's is known for its wide variety of products. -- Staff photo by Taylor

By 1970, the business included a farm implement business as well as a hardware store. In 1978, a bigger, new store was opened under the name of "Callahan's General Store," which even included kitchen implements and Western apparel (at a time when "Urban Cowboy" made the clothes very popular).

Since then, Callahan's has continued to expand the variety of items available to customers, although animal feed remains the major product. Their feed is sold at feed stores over Texas.

A customer to Callahan's General Store will find a wide variety of products, including: hand-crank ice cream freezers, fruit presses, and compression plumbing fixtures. They can also purchase crockery, canning supplies, croissant makers, wood stoves and farrier's coal. Finally, there are baby chicks, saddles, whips, ropes, bridles, bits, curry combs and saddle pads.

The store carries feed for dogs, cats, horses or catfish, along with feed for cattle and hogs.

You name it, and you can usually find it at Callahan's, most customers agree; and the more you look, the more products you see that you can't find under one roof anywhere in Austin ... except at Callahan's.

Murry Callahan, one of the brothers, took a break from setting out new vegetable and flowering plants for the customers, to add a comment: "Our mother and daddy raised us to know what work is."

Young noted the best thing about working in a family business and, particularly, Callahan's, is they are able to meet different people and help with any agricultural needs, such as supplying seeds, chemicals, etc. Although he said there is "really no hard part" to his job, he did say that the major planning and decisions about offering products that customers want is what continues to keep the doors of Callahan's open.

The future looks good for the Callahan family and its customers. Young said they plan to just keep going strong and "keep on keeping on!" Although products may have changed over the years and the addition of newer products has required change at Callahan's, there's one thing that has stayed the same: "We still have old fashioned values and loyal customers," said Young.

Every day, new customers discover Callahan's and become loyal customers, because once they discover what the store has to offer ... all in one store ... it's hard not to come back. That, plus the vision that Earl and his wife had way back after World War II, has made Callahan's General Store what it is, today, and they plan to be there for producers and other customers for many more years.