Here it is a farm store named NORTH FORTY and in a different town BIG R. I suspect in a very few years there will be beekeeping gear at half the yard sales in any town. And nucs and packages will be cheaper and harder to get. There won't be a shortage of bees, thats for certain.

 

A local hardware store was selling a "complete" beekeeping kit, one deep, base, cover, frames, gloves, veil, etc. for $149 last spring. As for quality....the hive body was some kind of particle board with three staples at the corners holding it together, from there it went down hill. I asked one of the guys there and he said they'd sold about five so far that spring. Good marketing, Dumb consumer....

 

Yep, our local F&F just expanded into a massive store. Probably added on 100% the size of the existing store. They now have a beekeeping section. The honey jars are relatively reasonably priced, everything else is outrageous. I guess if you get a major jam with equipment it would work to run down to the store and buy some stuff, but if you have a table saw you can spend 1/8th the price and spend 10 minutes making your own.

 

I saw a hive and plastic frames sitting at the end of an aisle of pesticides. I assume whatever I smell in that portion of the store got into the wax coating.
And yes, overpriced -- if someone has three days they can order.

 

Yup, our local "Big R" sells all the same Little Giant equipment. I actually got my Two frame extractor from them (a 20% off coupon came in real handy).

One local small apiary has taken the opportunity to make some lemonade- he has nukes advertised right beside the bee keeping section. I hope he does well! And I hope my swarm traps do too!

 

yea....their gate valves are 1/2 the cost of the same ones at Kellys...what's wrong with that! Sometimes small businesses such as ( http://www.harpethvalleyapiary.com/ ) can be more efficient than the big ones in some areas... not so much in others. Just the same as any other commodity business...buyer beware.

 

Tractor Supply Company has been selling hive components for a while now. Just have to buy online. Some prices are high and some are reasonable. I've never bought from them and really don't plan to, but I'm guessing you can ship to store. But unless you know about the online hives, not just any impulse buyer is going to see the products....

 

the farm and fleet stores near me and also fleet farm (different chain) sell all the stuff and the bees as well.

 

We have a large local hardware and building supply store that is in the city and markets towards affluent folk. Since beekeeping has become the in thing they now carry bee supplies but have absolutely no bee knowledge.
The big thing around here is having 1-2 hives in your back yard. A couple of ladies are making a living by putting a hive in people's yards for 500$ per hive. They check the bees occasionally and the renters can watch. In return the renter gets 2lb of honey at the end of the season! Amazing how many of folks go for this.

 

I don't mind having equipment readily available. If I need something fast and the price is right, I would buy it.

 

Here is a package of bees from that Farm and Fleet site.
http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...ts/882785-little-giant-3-lb-package-of-live-bees-with-marked-italian-queen.html

 

I've bought from them in a pinch. Filters, uncappers, hive tools. They've actually got SOME I repeat SOME good quality stuff.

 

In the early summer of 2013 we were approached by Miller Manufacturing, the company behind the Little Giant brand and asked to bid on a list of equipment they wanted to procure for resale (and I'm sure that they approached most of the other manufacturers as well). As we reviewed the list and discussed with their buyer the region and the customer they were marketing to, two things became very clear to us 1) in most instances there was going to be a very limited amount of support offered to the customer at these locations and 2) some of the items they were requesting were, in our opinion, the wrong thing to provide for the regions they were focusing on. A simple example was Boardman entrance feeders. As we evaluated the situation, we decided to pass simply because we didn't want our name associated with this type of situation. Sometime thereafter the holding company that owns Miller acquired Kelley and Kelley started filling the role of supplier, somewhat, for Miller. I say somewhat, because Miller goes out and sources independently as they do with everything that they brand as Little Giant. So my predictions are they, meaning these stores, will sell some equipment and bees for a while, but eventually the chains will realize that 1) some of the stores would be better off utilizing that shelf space to sell higher margin, faster turn-over items such as candy, chocolates and other consumables 2) for those selling live bees there comes a certain amount of customer animosity when things fail and 3) they could be buying direct from manufacturer thereby eliminating Miller and increasing their own margins. As for the Miller-Kelley relationship I predict that Miller, as an independent enterprise that is accountable for its own profits and losses to the holding company, will put the squeeze on Kelley in terms of pricing by requesting bids from other manufacturers to test the waters and maintain competitiveness. The typical play is to do this around year 3 or 4 post-acquisition since that gives the newly acquired company and its restructured management a running start prior to putting the real test on. After that for most it becomes a biennial routine. There is a lot of risk for Kelley in this and its very possible that in the future there will be one fewer of the "big three" whether through attrition or acquisition.....

 

Up here (East Central Minnesota) we have Mill's Fleet Farm. They have bee equipment for sale or will have soon. We also have the Tractor Supply chain of stores doing the same thing. Both have bees for sale and you have to pick them up on the dates specified by the stores. Heck, I hadn't started keeping bees yet but had done a lot of reading and looking at the prices vs. quality of the offerings, wasn't all that impressed. The kits were offered well into the early summer at one of the stores which I assume simply meant that they hadn't gotten rid of inventory yet. Way too late to start a hive by the time the woodenware finally went away. We'll see how much longer this lasts before the craze goes away.

 

The mills fleet farm by me carries supplies (woodenware, smokers, etc) year round. It does not appear to be a seasonal thing here in north east WI. For my part I'm glad because one time I needed something in a hurry and it was convenient to be able to pop into fleet farm and grab it instead of ordering it. Interesting to hear that it's seasonal by you.

 

Just last week I was at our local Farm & Fleet and took these.

Notice the advertising, "A simple hobby"!

 

Just last week I was at our local Farm & Fleet and took these.


Notice the advertising, "A simple hobby"!

I sure would like to have a local store like that to browse around in.