J.S. West will close its feed store in downtown Modesto after 64 years
J. S. West & Cos. plans to close its feed store in downtown Modesto, reluctantly ending a 64year run that catered to animal owners in Stanislaus County.
Friday, Nov,. 11, is the last day for customers to buy livestock feed, pet supplies, boots, hats and other goods. Everything is 75% off at the store, 709 Ninth St.
Competition from online retailers contributed to the closure, said Mike West, the fourth-generation president and CEO, during a visit from The Modesto Bee on Tuesday.
“The downtown feed store, the neighborhood feed store, might be a thing of the past, and that makes us sadder than anything,” he said.
The store is a small part of J. S. West, which will continue to be a major player in the egg and propane industries in California. It employs about 320 people and will try to move the four feed store workers into other jobs, Mike West said.
The store mainly serves people with a few animals on their property, such as sheep, swine and rabbits raised by 4-H and FFA members. It has dozens of bins of food for dogs, cats and birds, and live rats and mice for snake owners.
On the morning The Bee visited, Pete Baptista was buying feed for his racing pigeons. He has been a customer since the 1970s.
“We always come here, because we’ve thought it was more efficient and clean,” he said.
No plans yet for site
The family plans to hold on to the property but has not decided on a future use, including whether it should be used for housing, West said. The parcel is among many suggested for redevelopment in the downtown master plan adopted by the Modesto City Council in 2020.
The company dates to 1909, when James Stewart West began selling grain and coal on the site of today’s feed store. Other product lines came and went over the decades — ice, fuel oil, auto sales and service, furniture and appliances.
J.S. West started selling propane in 1936 and now has outlets in Modesto, Fresno, Oakhurst, Sonora, Angels Camp, Placerville and Colfax. The fuel is essential in places where PG&E does not have gas lines.
The company entered the egg business in the late 1940s and now runs large henhouses near Hilmar and Livingston. The eggs are marketed under several labels through the Nucal Foods cooperative, based in Ripon.
Feed store since 1958
The Modesto feed store opened in 1958, next to a new feed mill that replaced one that burned a year earlier. Such mills are a common sight in the Central Valley, mainly using corn shipped by rail from the Midwest. The grain is mixed with other ingredients and fed to dairy cattle, poultry and other livestock.
The J.S. West mill still towers over the feed store but has not operated since 2016. The company now relies on Nuwest Milling, built with egg industry partners along the railroad tracks near Hughson.
The feed store is on the same block as the former J.S. West furniture store building. It will continue to be leased to Redeemer Modesto church, Mike West said. The company headquarters are now at Ninth and E streets, next to the Modesto propane hub.
Animal owners can find food and supplies at other stores in and near Stanislaus County, or online. But Pete Baptista, the pigeon racer, said he will miss his long-time supplier.
“This place has always been great,” he told the staff upon leaving. “I brought my grandchildren here. God bless you guys.”