TRAVERSE CITY — When the maple sapling in my backyard wasn’t doing well, my tree guy said I should take a soil sample to McGough’s. They could have it tested and tell me what to do, he said.
“Your soil’s not bad for a city lot,” the woman told me, “but it could use some sulphur and potassium. Here, let me show you.”
Probably there’s a sign in front of McGough’s Farm & Lawn Supply on Lake Street in Traverse City, but I haven’t noticed. I know the long barn-red building by heart and by smell. Familiar smells of fertilizer, bird seed, planting soil — and something more, the smell of history. The store has been there a long time and I, for one, am grateful.
Traverse City has changed so much in the 50 years I’ve lived here that, as a friend said recently, it’s “almost unrecognizable.” Except for McGough’s, I thought, and some other special places that have managed to stay in the same place and the same business over time — keeping the flavor of the original and keeping customers coming back.
“Somebody ought to celebrate them,” I thought. This is a start.
I made an appointment to talk with Lindsey Lampton, the current manager of McGough’s, taking over from her father Tim in 2020. While I stood at the check-out counter waiting for her, a friendly woman offered help. I explained my visit and asked how long she’d worked there.
“Five years,” she said. Her name was Kathy Borock. “I love it,” she added. “It’s like family.”
I didn’t ask whether she meant the employees or the customers, but later I knew she meant both.
Lindsey and I sat in her tiny office, the walls hung with old posters, advertisements, receipts — and a whiteboard showing the employee schedule. She has a staff of 11, she said, eight part-time.
“They’re the reason we’re still going,” she said. “Their relationships with customers.”
McGough’s began in the 1890s selling coal to business and residential customers, delivered by horse and wagon.
“The first building was north of Eighth,” Lindsey said, “with stables on the main floor and offices overhead.”
In 1912, the business moved south to its current location and added a grain elevator and milling operation.
“Fuel and feeds for all your needs!” the company boasted.
Train tracks still run under the building, Lindsey said, but today, McGough’s sells to fewer farmers and more homeowners — with shelves full of bird seed, grass seed, fertilizer, and pet supplies.
Watering cans, seeds in bulk, deer blocks, and flock blocks. And the employees know everything about everything.
Dave Fortine started working in the mill at McGough’s at age 20 and now runs the warehouse.
“People want to do their own lawns,” he said, “but they don’t know how. We do.”
Julie Thon came from the Gallagher farm family, so she has a history with McGough’s and now works here.
“I choose not to be a high-tech person,” she said . “We don’t have a scanner, we just use the cash register.”
She especially enjoys “the regulars,” those customers she calls by name.
“We know their families,” she said, “their pets.”
Starting at McGough’s as a bookkeeper 27 years ago, Rich Miller is also the resident historian and did some research years ago to prove McGough’s was a “centennial business.” “The customer base is just wonderful,” he said. How do they compete with the big box stores and the internet? “Personalized service,” he said. “Our fertilizer prices are actually cheaper because we have it packaged for us, a formula made for the sandy soils of this area.”
Jim Brouwer comes in from Benzie County to shop at McGough’s and started out buying dog food and treats. Then he added potting soil, fertilizer, yard tools, and a bear-proof bird feeder.
“I’ve never left McGough’s feeling I spent too much,” he laughs. “Price-wise they’re right on the mark and the value-added is their incredible knowledge about the products they’re selling.”
“It’s just easy,” Andi (Andrea) Roxburgh said, describing the shopping experience at McGough’s. “I’ve never gone through a self-check-out!” She described learning how to add “No-mess mix” to her black sunflower seeds to attract more birds. “I have six pairs of cardinals now!” And she buys dog treats for all her neighbors.
Andi’s family owned Roxburgh Drugs in downtown Traverse City (which became Petertyl’s) so she appreciates “the historical flavor” of McGough’s. “It’s been there forever,” she said. “There’s a reason for that.”
About the future, Lindsey is positive. “We’ve been serving the area for over 130 years,” she said, “and I believe that if we keep responding to customer needs and creating genuine relationships, we’ll have a place in the community.”
The list is pretty long, I realize, of businesses that have been in Traverse City through the years, staying true to their roots and to their customers despite terrific change and competition. Restaurants, barber shops, banks, hardware stores, taverns. They’re more than businesses; they’re communities — and we belong.
“I think there’s a growing interest in shopping at small, independent stores today,” Jim Brouwer summed up, “not because they’re small and independent, but because they’re good. Better than good.”