By Carol McGowan
If you drive south on Harlem Avenue from Interstate 55 in Summit, you’ll likely notice something new at The Feed Store, 5408 S. Harlem Avenue.
The business is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and, as a tribute to their many years in business, there’s a mural on the north wall that harkens back to the early years when farms were far more common locally.
The Feed Store is known for serving pet owners and gardeners of all kinds.
Now in its third generation, owner Brooke Bestwina, says the store is doing very well and they are proud to continue serving their loyal longtime customers, and welcome anyone to check them out.
“We are excited about our 75th year, and the mural is a tribute to our years serving the community. I originally just thought we would put a mural of a rooster on the wall, but our artist, Julie Kulak, kept on going! She worked hard and ended up doing the entire wall. We couldn’t be more pleased. The clear coat really made the colors pop.”
It took Kulak a couple of weeks to complete the mural, and the comments on the store’s Facebook page have been wonderful.
All of the reaction has been positive: “Love it!; Amazing; Awesome; Thank you guys for all the dedicated years for serving the residents of Summit; So glad to see this now. Well done!!; I know people that come from Northbrook to buy feed from your store; I drive past it every day. Great job to the artist. Brings much life to the wall.; Thanks for beautifying a little corner of our town; Looks great! Thanks for giving us something colorful and fun to look at; I got a glimpse at it and had to go around the block to get a better look.”
The motto of The Feed Store is, “If it Walks, Crawls, Flies, Runs or Swims, We Can Feed It.”
The store is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are closed on Wednesday.