The Feed Store, a downtown staple for decades, has closed
again for the second time since 2020.
The original owners, Ross Richardson and Ann Laurence, moved to Springfield in 1973 as staff organizers for Governor Dan Walker and later decided to open a restaurant on the Old State Capitol Plaza.
The couple operated The Feed Store, 516 E. Adams St., for 43 years before closing in July 2020. In an interview with SBJ at the time, Laurence noted that they had been talking about retiring for a while and “the pandemic just tipped the scale.”
The business was purchased a few months later by David
Stanks, who said he was committed to keeping the same menu and recipes.
However, longtime customers bemoaned other changes, such as switching to paper
plates instead of using real dishes and doing away with the restaurant’s
signature pickle spears and orange slices that used to accompany each meal.
The Feed Store closed quietly last week and is advertised for
sale on loopnet.com, a commercial real estate website, along with the
6,000-square-foot building. The listing notes that due to so many inquiries
about selling the restaurant and building as a package they are being offered together,
along with the equipment, for $265,000. The listing also advertises the option
of assuming the existing owner’s SBA loans at 3.75% interest with $25,000 down,
noting there is seven years remaining on the restaurant and equipment loan and
17 years remaining on the building loan.
