By COLLIN BREAUX
A month into assuming ownership of the historic business, married couple and new Bonifay Feed and Seed owners Cody and Andraea Raffield have seen longtime customers trickle back in.
The Raffields assumed ownership of the feed store-which has been around for decades-on Sept. 1. The couple, who are from Panama City and were previously in the seafood business, have been busy stocking the store-which has led to what Andraea said is a renewed interest from customers.
‘We have doubled the sales within the first month since being here from just stocking,’ Cody said. ‘Our heart here is to get this place back up to where Bonifay don’t have to go do business in Washington County.’
Along with advertising on social media, the Raffields’ church has also helped spread the word. They are also looking at having a big deer and buck contest for customers where the winner could get to have their deer mounted in the store.
There are also plans to bring in a full bait and tackle section with crickets, worms, and tackle boxes.
‘When the [old customers] come here, we have what they are looking for,’ Cody said.
Those items include horse pellets, chicken feed, live chicks, vegetable seeds, plants, and insect and roach spray.
‘We got a couple different kinds of cattle feed,’ Cody said. ‘Stuff for smaller cows. We’ve got a variety of protein pellets, some crumble.’
The vegetable seeds are good for people getting into homesteading, he said.
‘We’ve got fertilizer for that,’ Cody said. ‘Right now, rye grass is selling. That’s something that’s a big seller right now, with the rain coming and cooler weather.’
Rat killer is another popular item.
‘They take one bite of it and go off and die,’ Cody said.
In addition to serving customers, Bonifay Feed and Seed also now has inmates help out in the store-made possible through a ministry outreach program the Raffields oversee and which is intended to help rehabilitate sentenced drug addicts.
Cody said Bonifay Feed and Seed provides a need for local customers.
‘There’s been a lot of people driving to Chipley, to Brickyard Market. There’s been a lot of people driving to Orange Hill,’ he said. ‘Don’t get me wrong. Those are great establishments. Those are businesses over there for that community but why should this community go travel and put their money in another community when this is home?’
The main focus for the new owners is allowing customers to keep money in Bonifay.
‘One thing that we hear a lot, just with the history of this building, is people come in all the time-the older gentlemen-and they talk about when Mr. Chestnut owned this, this was the place,’ Andraea said. ‘You come and you drank coffee and you talked and you bought your feed here. It was the feed store.’
‘I think a lot of that got lost for a lot of years,’ she continued. ‘We’re seeing it kind of come back, because people are happy with the changes they’ve seen in the last month.’
GARETT VALCOURT 
Jim Saunders 
Dara Kam 