Hometown Feed Mill and General Store – a one-stop shop

Rich Palzewic

Staff

September 1, 2025

TOMAHAWK – For those who live in the Tomahawk area, there’s a good chance they’ve frequented the Hometown Feed Mill and General Store over the years.

With larger communities being anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes away, Owner Dave Van De Weerd said his goal has always been to make Hometown Feed Mill a one-stop shop for area patrons.

Located at 216 S. Tomahawk Ave., Van De Weerd – who co-owns Hometown Feed Mill with his wife, Joy – said the shop carries anything from animal feed to pet food and supplies, to garden seeds and plants and baskets.

“Another big part of our store is the bird seed,” he said. “We actually mix and manufacture our own line of bird seed here at the store, so that has a huge following. Our main retail store is full of pet supplies, and our greenhouse center does super well.”

Van De Weerd said Hometown’s main focus over the last 10 years has been listening to customers.

“If they’re looking for something, that’s the direction we go,” he said. “We are definitely customer-driven.”

To keep up with that demand, Van De Weerd said Hometown Feed Mill is expanding with an addition in October.

“We’re doing an addition on our storage facility, which will add a little extra retail space for outdoor décor and gift items,” he said.

A life serving Tomahawk

Before owning and operating Hometown Feed Mill, Van De Weerd said he worked for the City of Tomahawk for 31 years.

“I always tell people, ‘I’m still doing the same thing – serving Tomahawk,’” he laughed.

Though he’s been a lifelong resident of the Northwoods, Van De Weerd said it’s interesting how it all came about.

“My parents immigrated from Holland to the United States in 1956, so I’m a first-generation [American],” he said. “They came over on a boat into New York. My dad served in the Korean War and served with a bunch of guys from Wisconsin. They said to him, ‘Oh, my goodness, you have to go to Wisconsin’ – so that’s how my parents ended up here in the first place.”

Van De Weerd said his parents bought a house in Tomahawk in 1960.

A storied history

Though Hometown Feed Mill’s history dates back to the early 1900s, Van De Weerd said he and Joy recently celebrated their 10-year anniversary of ownership.

“From what I can tell, the feed mill originated in about 1903,” he said. “So, for more than 120 years, it’s been here in Tomahawk in some way, shape or form. Since that time, it’s had quite a few different owners.”

In earlier days, Van De Weerd said a feed mill/general store was often the center of town and served as a one-stop shop, including Hometown Feed Mill.

“These types of stores kind of handled everything,” he said. “They handled all your animal feed, farm supplies, garden supplies, etc. Back then, they didn’t have the roads or the infrastructure they do now, so everything came in on rail. With some of our recent excavating, we’ve discovered some of the old rail lines that are still here, buried in the ground.”

More than a century later, Van De Weerd said Hometown has stood the test of time, and after visiting it frequently himself, he eventually bought it.

“I was friends with the owner of the store at the time,” he said. “He was looking for somebody to help manage his store, so he hired my wife. She worked for him for a year or two before we bought the store.”

Van De Weerd said when he and Joy took over ownership, they tried to “spruce things up a bit.”

“We couldn’t do this without our customers – it’s nice to be in a small town,” he said. “When customers come into the store and when you see them out in public, it’s nice to have a relationship with them. I honestly think people are looking for that. Somewhere along the way, that’s been lost [in our society].”

With Tomahawk, population 3,400, not having any of the big-box stores like other surrounding cities have, Van De Weerd said that makes Hometown Feed Mill’s presence even more important.

“Many times, people can’t or don’t want to make an hour-long round trip and travel to one of those larger areas,” he said. “We try really hard to keep our overhead and costs down. We have a few employees, but we work the store ourselves every day.”

Though Hometown Feed Mill is a small-town store, Van De Weerd said he often hears comments from patrons about its competitive pricing.

“I have people who come in and buy dog food all the time, and they’ll say, ‘You’re $6 cheaper than [a big-box store] and $10 cheaper than [a national pet store] down in Stevens Point,” he said. “We are really proud of that and hang our hat on being competitive.”

Marching onward

Van De Weerd said for now, it’s status quo at Hometown Feed Mill, with the exception of the new addition, which has customers “excited.”

“I think we’ve proven that people like what we have going here, so it’s just continuing to do what we have been doing for 10 years but trying our best to do it better,” he said.

As for their working future, at age 61, Van De Weerd said he and Joy have no plans to slow down.

“My grandson is working for us full-time now, so that’s an exciting twist that hopefully will continue to play out,” he said.

Van De Weerd said the one thing that is guaranteed in life is change, so eventually, he expects changes at Hometown Feed Mill.

“Having said that, I have no immediate plans to retire,” he laughed. “Joy and I can’t sit still for five minutes anyway. We love to stay busy and love the hustle and bustle of things. We’re both very excited about the direction of the store and its future. We have a great staff, and we couldn’t do this without them. They are very critical in all of this.”