After having established a reliable reputation for providing food and supplies for livestock and household pets, Pine Island Feed has recently expanded the goods and services they are providing for customers. The feed store is now serving as the one stop-shopping location for businesses in the market for paper and cleaning products as well.

“We are doing our best to make it possible for island businesses to save themselves a trip into town for supplies and found there was a need for items like cleaning supplies and household and takeout paper products so we decided to fill that niche,” said owner Mike Gerner. “So far the response has been very good and we don’t have a problem getting things for people when they request them.”

At this time, Pine Island Distributors is supplying everything from mops to insect repellant to not only Pine Island customers but to those on the barrier islands as well.

“One of our best customers is Usseppa. Each week we were taking garden and pet supplies out to the barge to be shipped over to the island and now we are also filling orders for things like paper towels, trash bags and other items from our new business,” Gerner said. “We are able to offer the best quality items for the best price and in many cases we are cheaper than the national distributors.”

Among the businesses already purchasing supplies from Gerner are the VFW, Jackie’s Restaurant, the Waterfront Restaurant, the Moose Lodge, the Beacon of HOPE, the Island Grill, Froggy’s and the Matlacha-Pine Island Fire Department.

“Many of the smaller businesses simply cannot afford to buy by the case but we have no problem with just selling one roll of paper towels or half cases of office or cleaning supplies and we will deliver them for free seven days a week, unlike other distributors,” Gerner said. “We even encouraged business owners to come over to browse our inventory in our warehouse and hand select the items they need.”

Gerner said that he intends to service Pine Island and Matlacha with the only exception being the outer islands.

“In an effort to offer free seven-day-a-week delivery, we have no intentions of expanding the business to provide supplies off-island,” Gerner said. “We pride ourselves on being a long-time member of the island community and as we do our best to trade here on the island to support our own economy, it is our hope that islanders will do the same and shop with us rather than on the main land.”

Gerner also felt that the cleaning and paper supplies complemented his successful feed, pet and garden supply business.

“Many times, our Feed Store customers will come in for supplies and also asked if we had things like cleaning supplies, trash bags, mops and such for their business or organization, so it made sense that one business could support the other and it seems to be working.”

Gerner has adopted the motto “Why buy from the Big Guy when you can buy from the Little Guy”.

“Our community has always been about supporting one another and with the kind of response we have had so far, I believe that is still true,” Gerner said. “That is why we don’t require any minimum purchases and are always happy to accommodate the people in any way we can.”

For more information, call Mike Gerner at 558-5042.