Bird Business Booms in Columbia
On a Wednesday afternoon, Mariel Stephenson browsed the aisles of Songbird Station, looking over the newest bird feeders and other items in the Forum Shopping Center store.
“I’ve been feeding birds since I was a child, my whole life,” said Stephenson, 67, who was there to pick up thistle socks bird feeders and sunflower hearts to fill the several bird feeders she keeps at home.
Stephenson sure isn’t alone. She is one of 53 million Americans who feed wild birds, according to the 2001 U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service report.
Songbird Station and the Wild Bird Center, which opened in April, are part of the $2.6 billion bird-feeding industry (yes, “billion” with a “B”) that includes sales of bird feed, bird feeders, baths and other backyard nature items.
SONGBIRD EXPANDS
After more than 10 years at the Forum Shopping Center, Songbird Station is moving – and expanding. Sometime around the end of the year, Songbird Station will move to 2010 Chapel Plaza, on the corner of Chapel Hill Road and Forum Boulevard.
The new location, a flyer on the front door proclaims, will be four times the size of the current shop, with about 3,700 square feet. “The move will allow us to stock more things,” said Mel Toellner, owner and president of Gold Crest Distributing in Mexico, Mo. Songbird Station is a demonstration store for Gold Crest, the nation’s largest distributors of backyard nature products.
Those new offerings will include more butterfly products, squirrel feeders, squirrel deterrents, toad huts, pet boutique products, wind chimes and backyard nature-oriented gifts. The new location will include green space for improved display of bird baths, houses, feeders and other items.
BUSINESS DOUBLES
When the Wild Bird Center opened in April, the number of specialty bird business retailers in Columbia doubled—from one to two.
Nestled between a coffee shop and Quiznos, the new store at 2703 E. Broadway, Suite 127, faces Broadway in one of Columbia’s newer retail centers, the Broadway Shops, just outside the shopping center that houses Lowe’s and Sam’s.
Bruce Bynum opened the new store in April and held an official grand opening in September. Late one afternoon, the 2,000-square-foot store is quiet as Bynum waits for customers to discover the new shop.
A Hickman High School graduate before he headed off to the University of Colorado, Bynum returned to town after working for 15 years in nonprofit development. He returned to Columbia to finish raising his ninth-grade daughter and open a business doing something he loves: helping people enjoy the outdoors.
While the store is part of a franchise, Bynum emphasized that he owns the store and works to carry items with local or regional ties. For example, Bynum’s store offers cards and calendars featuring the photographs of Jim Rathert, a Columbia native whose work has long graced Missouri Conservationist magazine. Other products offered by the new shop include feeders, specialized bird feed, bird baths and even a three-foot statue, among other backyard nature items.
Bynum is taking steps to ensure that Columbia customers discover his store. His newspaper ads proclaim a 20 percent seed sale. In the store, he promises free delivery with a $100 purchase (otherwise there is a $5 charge). And on the first and third Saturday of the month, he leads bird walks, including a recent one to Eagle Bluffs. So far, he said, attendance has been spotty, ranging from two to six. The walks aren’t limited to expert birders, he noted. “Anybody can come and have a great time,” he said.
So how is business? “It’s steadily building,” he said.
Bynum is in business for the long run and believes the bird business will continue to grow. “I’ve been well received by the community,” he said, adding, “It’s good to be home.”
CHANGES AHEAD
But only about half of the bird feed and bird feeders purchased in the United States are sold through independent retailers such Songbird Station and the Wild Bird Center, according to Susan Hays, executive director of Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI). The organization is an industry umbrella group which includes more than 150 member companies, such as bird food packagers and processors; feeder manufacturers; suppliers; and distributors, including Gold Crest Distributing. The franchise headquarters of the Wild Bird Center in Columbia is also a member of WBFI.
The other half of bird feed and bird feeders sold in the United States are purchased at discount centers, Hays said. But that can lead to customer disappointment, said industry experts. Customers may buy cheap seed that includes filler or seed that doesn’t attract the birds they want.
The independent retailer is one solution to consumer disappointment, said Hays, because such a store provides knowledge and quality products.
ANOTHER APPROACH
Consumer disappointment is one reason the WBFI decided to create a logo seal, much like the “Good Housekeeping Seal.”
The “WBFI Quality Standard” seal will ensure that a product meets certain standards, according to Reggie Vanden Bosch, president of WBFI and vice president of business development of Heath Outdoor Products, a major producer of suet bird feed and feeders.
Having a seal and standards can lead to ensuring that a consumer has good experience, said Vanden Bosch. “If a consumer buys something and it doesn’t work, they won’t buy anything else,” he said.
Setting bird feeder standards is one of the steps toward ensuring customer satisfaction, said Vanden Bosch. The WBFI standards for the seal call for feeders to meet six criteria: packaging that shows only birds the feeder will actually attract; a metal hanger; an opening large enough for convenient refilling; drainage to prevent mold in the feed; easy to cleaning; and the capacity to hold the feed it is intended to dispense.
There are also standards set for bird feed.
For example, bird feed that contains undesirable seeds that birds toss aside (which creates a patch of weeds instead of a colorful flock of wild birds) is bad for business, said Mike Wulf, national sales manager for D&D Commodities, a manufacturer of premium feed for wild birds, caged birds and small animals, and member of WBFI and the WBFI Quality Standards Program.
And if bird seed packaging shows a certain kind of bird, the WBFI seal would ensure it actually contains the kind of feed that attracts that kind of bird. As Wulf put it, “If someone buys feed that shows a cardinal on the package and they say, ‘I didn’t see one cardinal at my feeder,’ they are not satisfied customers.”
FUTURE TRENDS
The figures are mixed on whether bird feeding as an activity is growing, with some indicators pointing toward growth and some pointing toward flat figures.
“Nobody truly has the exact data,” said Vanden Bosch. But he and WBFI aren’t taking any chances. The industry organization will launch a marketing campaign outlining good bird feeding practices and another project to fund and collect scientific information about bird feeding.
Closer to home, Toellner of Gold Crest is taking action, too. His Mexico, Mo., 74,000-square-foot center recently held a two-day open-house trade show that drew more than 250 dealers from 31 states. The event included training seminars including one given by Songbird Station manager Lisa Davis, which was standing room only, according to a Gold Crest news release.
Toellner said he expects the bird business to continue to grow and has these predictions for the future:
• An increase in the number of people who feed year-round.
• More specialized bird feed and more sophisticated feeders to allow people to lure only the birds they want.
• Increased awareness of cleaning needs and feeder improvements to make feeders easier to clean.
• Increased awareness about the dangers of cats to birds.
• Improved squirrel deterrents in feeders.
• Increases in availability of backyard nature-related gifts.
• Improved electronics to help people bring the outdoors in, such scopes and cameras.
So what does Stephenson, the customer at Songbird Station, think of all this? Well, she does have a heated bird bath, a water dripper and a myriad of different kinds of feeders for various kinds of birds that she makes sure she keeps clean.
“I love watching the birds,” she said. “They’re such a scream; they’re just so entertaining.” v
Bird Biz by the Numbers
#2 – Rank of bird watching among outdoor wildlife recreation activities
How much is spent:
$2.6 billion – on bird food
$733 million – on bird feeders, bird houses, bird baths and nest boxes
$38.4 billion – on wildlife watching, which includes observing, feeding and photographing
$35.6 billion – on fishing
$20.6 billion – on hunting
Who does what? In 2001:
89 million people attended major league baseball and professional football games
52.6 million people fed wild birds
34.1 million people fished
13 million people hunted
18.6 million people took trips to observe, feed or photograph wild birds
Sources: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis; 2001 National and State Economic Impacts of Wildlife Watching, U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service