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Walton Feeds to rebuild after third bout with bad weather
  
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By JOSH HARDWICK
Vernon and Lavern Walton are no strangers to large, dangerous storms. And neither is their store.
Walton’s Feed and Western Wear, located on FM 2100 near Foley Road, never seems to escape unscathed whenever a big wind blows through.
Since it first opened in 1988, the store’s iconic, western-themed wooden building has been heavily damaged three times – first when a small but fierce tornado ripped through the Crosby/Huffman area in 1993, and again in 2005 when hurricane Rita struck the Texas-Louisiana border.
And now, hurricane Ike has left its mark on the family business.
The couple said they tried to prepare for the storm’s arrival as best they could, heeding the now-cliché advice of radio and television personalities to, “hunker down” in their home like so many others around them.
Items they thought would become missiles in the wind were placed behind a large fence at the back of the property and the store itself was locked down.
Their store, which provides food and veterinary supplies for farmers and ranchers throughout eastern Harris County, fared reasonably well in the first half of the storm, said Vernon.
“The wind was coming out of the north and we had a good bit of tree damage, but it didn’t ruin the store until the winds turned and started coming from the south,” he said.
Ike’s 90 mph winds literally peeled back the store’s roof like a sardine can in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, exposing thousands of pounds of veterinary supplies, pet food, medicine and seed inside to soaking rains that lasted well into the following day.
Power did not return to the area for nearly a week, but the Waltons salvaged what they could of their business and moved it to the steel barn behind their damaged building the Monday after the storm.
“We knew that people had to feed their animals so we wanted to open up as soon as possible,” said Lavern.
Limited services are still being offered from the barn, including horse feed and hay, but the Waltons want to emphasize to their customers that they are disposing of any and all merchandise damaged by the storm
“We’re not going to try and sell wet feed. Anything that is ruined will be destroyed,” said Walton.
Business has been understandably slow since the storm passed, with people perhaps more worried about getting their power back than attracting the local wildlife with feeds and scents.
But despite their losses, these seasoned storm veterans are taking their situation in stride.
“The main thing is we’re all alive,” said Lavern, who knows all too well how much worse things could have been. “My sister and her husband live in Port Bolivar. They survived, but they lost everything.”
In the meantime, the Waltons are waiting for an insurance adjustor to officially survey the damage to the business.
Vernon, however, already knows what he wants to do with the mess.
“We’re not going to fool with it anymore,” he said of the 20-year-old wooden edifice. The couple plans to demolish the structure and remodel the steel barn they work from now into a new and hopefully sturdier store.
And as far as storms go, they both agree that this most recent bout with nature may dealt the heaviest blow to their business.
“None of them have ever been this bad. We’ve had plenty of damage before, but it was repairable,” said Vernon. “But we’re not going out of business. We’re just going to get a little bigger.”
Walton’s Feed and Western Wear, located on FM 2100 near Foley Road, never seems to escape unscathed whenever a big wind blows through.
Since it first opened in 1988, the store’s iconic, western-themed wooden building has been heavily damaged three times – first when a small but fierce tornado ripped through the Crosby/Huffman area in 1993, and again in 2005 when hurricane Rita struck the Texas-Louisiana border.
And now, hurricane Ike has left its mark on the family business.
The couple said they tried to prepare for the storm’s arrival as best they could, heeding the now-cliché advice of radio and television personalities to, “hunker down” in their home like so many others around them.
Items they thought would become missiles in the wind were placed behind a large fence at the back of the property and the store itself was locked down.
Their store, which provides food and veterinary supplies for farmers and ranchers throughout eastern Harris County, fared reasonably well in the first half of the storm, said Vernon.
“The wind was coming out of the north and we had a good bit of tree damage, but it didn’t ruin the store until the winds turned and started coming from the south,” he said.
Ike’s 90 mph winds literally peeled back the store’s roof like a sardine can in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, exposing thousands of pounds of veterinary supplies, pet food, medicine and seed inside to soaking rains that lasted well into the following day.
Power did not return to the area for nearly a week, but the Waltons salvaged what they could of their business and moved it to the steel barn behind their damaged building the Monday after the storm.
“We knew that people had to feed their animals so we wanted to open up as soon as possible,” said Lavern.
Limited services are still being offered from the barn, including horse feed and hay, but the Waltons want to emphasize to their customers that they are disposing of any and all merchandise damaged by the storm
“We’re not going to try and sell wet feed. Anything that is ruined will be destroyed,” said Walton.
Business has been understandably slow since the storm passed, with people perhaps more worried about getting their power back than attracting the local wildlife with feeds and scents.
But despite their losses, these seasoned storm veterans are taking their situation in stride.
“The main thing is we’re all alive,” said Lavern, who knows all too well how much worse things could have been. “My sister and her husband live in Port Bolivar. They survived, but they lost everything.”
In the meantime, the Waltons are waiting for an insurance adjustor to officially survey the damage to the business.
Vernon, however, already knows what he wants to do with the mess.
“We’re not going to fool with it anymore,” he said of the 20-year-old wooden edifice. The couple plans to demolish the structure and remodel the steel barn they work from now into a new and hopefully sturdier store.
And as far as storms go, they both agree that this most recent bout with nature may dealt the heaviest blow to their business.
“None of them have ever been this bad. We’ve had plenty of damage before, but it was repairable,” said Vernon. “But we’re not going out of business. We’re just going to get a little bigger.”
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