Farms Do No Harm: Volume V – Kolb’s Farm Store

Known for fresh gallons of jugged milk from more than 100 Holstein cows, those behind Kolb’s Farm Store have carved their nostalgic stop in a more rural section of Spring City scenery, with retail efforts dating back to 1975.

Sally Kolb became the business manager for the storefront in 2000 after owning and operating a floral shop. Her husband Leroy owns Kolb’s Farm Store with his brothers Paul and Roland.

Their father Roy knew decades ago that running just a farm on their land would not be enough to afford a livable income for his sons; this led him to open the family farm store more than 30 years ago.

Today, the shop has expanded tremendously and is known for its milk supply and of course receives enthusiastic acclaim from locals for its chocolate milk, too.

But Kolb’s Farm Store carries much more than dairy drinks. The storefront acts as a small grocery outlet for anyone on-the-go, with Kolb noticing a lot of men doing their dinner shopping during evening hours throughout the week.

“We really feel that we fill a niche,” Kolb said. “Our goal is protecting agriculture in this area because it’s been so decimated. We want to educate people about local food sources since in the U.S., we’re often on the whim of other countries to provide our food.”

Kolb recently enlisted some retired neighbors a few miles away, who happen to be passionate about gardening and raising food, as her produce growers. She carries their freshly available fruits as the summer season progresses.

During winter, she stocks select produce from a hydroponic greenhouse operation known as Butter Valley Harvest in Bally.

The store is also the home to a selection of fair-trade coffees, organic baked breads made on-site, salads prepared by Wegman’s Deli and Catering in Douglassville, old-fashioned, coin-priced sweets like rock candy lollipops, bulk baking supplies, nuts and even the sometimes needed comfort of cupcakes.

At the deli counter, around 40 to 60 sandwiches are sold each morning, in Italian, ham and turkey varieties. Verizon and trash truck employees seem to be some of those appreciating the sandwich supply daily, Kolb noted.

Kolb’s Farm Store gives 20 or more gallons of cream to in Royersford each week, then freezer-stocking the final products in several dozen flavors which are grabbed up regularly by locals who love seeing when their favorite kinds are back in the rotation.

“I see people eating smarter,” Kolb said aside from sugary delights. “They’re moving away from convenience and processed foods, and produce has been on the increase. It’s always morphing.”

But Kolb proclaimed with ease that milk is what keeps the family in business, with 110 milking cows and a total of 225 cows helping their calcium-rich cause.

“I think people are tired of big stores, and they like that we’re not some huge superstore,” Kolb said. “Parking, walking in and waiting in line at a big store is not something they want to do anymore.”

The slower but comforting and more amiable atmosphere of Kolb’s Farm Store, along with its nostalgia easily sparked from seeing childhood memories from olden days, like bulk bags of red cinnamon heart candies, is a lot of what gives this place its charming appeal.

Throughout summer months, locals can often be seen eating ice cream or meals under the canopied picnic area at the edge of the parking lot around these reassuring acres of farmland unique to the landscape in Chester County near the Montgomery County border.

“We have local families here every day or every other day,” Kolb said. “Sometimes, they’ll send their kids in to get something.”

The Kolbs, as a valuable component in the community, are working in the planning stages of switching the reins from the second to third generation of their family with the surrounding farmland and the store, too.

“Living the kind of life we like, the quiet at night and having our kids and grandkids around,” is what Kolb considered most rewarding about the opportunity to be in one of the few agriculturally rich stretches of land in the Spring City limits, proudly providing local food and a wistfully heart-hugging feel with each swing of the store’s door.