King Feed sold to two employees

In about 400 B.C., Plato, a Greek philosopher said, “Everything changes and nothing stands still.” This is true for many long standing icons in Wimberley lately including Miss Mae’s BBQ, the Wimberley Café, and Jim’s Rental.

Now add another icon to the list, King Feed is changing owners. Chris Nichols, who has worked at the business for 45 years, since 1973, has decided to retire and sell the feed, nursery and hardware store to long-time employees Laurie Ward and Bryan Toifl. Nichols started at the bottom, sweeping floors and loading customers’ trucks “only through the winter” he was told.

This will become official on January 4, 2019, although Nichols will be a “consultant and greeter” at the business for the next couple years. He has owned the business since 1984. The thought of retirement “has been a little scary… the sun and moon aligned and it happened.” Keeping the business with a family atmosphere was extremely important to Nichols

“I never put it on the market for sale,” Nichols said. The plan for ownership change has been a culmination of a three-year process with Nichols, Ward and Toifl and will happen at the beginning of the new year, which Nichols wanted “to keep our CPA happy.”

The past couple years he has taken extended vacations leaving Ward and Toifl in charge and felt confident about the two. Now with added freedom, “I think I’ll enjoy heading out when cedar season hits.”

Toifl and Ward have responsibilities for different departments. Ward is in charge of the nursery and the pet department, Toifl the rest of the departments.

Toifl came up through the ranks like Nichols when he was hired then started part time sweeping and loading and came to learn the business from the bottom up. He was hired in April of 2006; Ward came aboard a year and a month later in May of 2007.

Ward’s beginning at King Feed came as a supplier of herbs and vegetables. “I needed part time work in the spring…I really liked it. I’ve been in nurseries for many, many years. Now I’ll be doing garden and pets.” Toifl added, “Between the two of us we’ve got it covered.” Nothing in the near future will be changed.

“We’ll try to keep it hometown. There’s no big remodel, just try to market it better. The same feel of the store will remain, family oriented,” Toifl, a WHS graduate, said. “Keeping that small town feel, we want to help figure out how to fix things. If we don’t have it, we’ll do everything to fix it. I’ve taken stuff out of my toolbox to help a customer.”

Another announcement about King Feed is front page worthy. Long-time Garden Guru, Tim Thompson is about to retire at the end of January.

“This has nothing to do with the new owners, I’ll work for them my last month. Laurie and Bryan are super people and I hope they do great,” Thompson said. “But on January 20 it will be 30 years that I met Chris on the Johnson soccer field (next to the library). We both had preschoolers (now in their 30s) at the same time.”

“My wife has been very supportive (about my retirement) and she has been retired for 7 years… it’s a perfect time to retire, there are many things that I love doing - music for one thing. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 8, I’d like to write music and do woodworking. And in the past we’ve done a lot of travel so we’ll do even more travelling,” Thompson said.

“I’ve been lucky to have a job all my life that I love. I feel really lucky and am filled with gratitude.” Caring and selling plants and the 2008 expansion of the nursery is one big accomplishment he’s proud of.

“I’ll continue to do my monthly column and my monthly newsletter. I enjoy writing, you know, I have an English degree from North Texas,” Thompson said, although he took numerous horticulture classes while there.

“There’s no plans to move, we love Wimberley. It’s home.”