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The following stories
are from newspaper articles we've collected over the years.
Select any of the photos below for a larger view.
 It
hasn’t moved far, just across the street. But Horaney’s
Feed Store is a slice of Longview history worth noting.
You’ve really got to be an old-timer
in East Texas to remember when the late Harry Horaney opened
it in 1940. Longview’s population was only 13,700. Since
then, the landmark feed store has grown both in customers
and merchandise. The old wooden store was a visual delight.
From cast iron skillets to ax handles to seeds, plants, fertilizer
and tools, the jammed-packed store long has been a favorite
with farmers, gardeners and homemakers. Some of the wares
could be baffling to city dwellers – obscure farm implements
mixed with the modern, gadgets of every description. The smells
of feed for livestock and other unique odors gave an air of
rusticity and uniqueness.
It’s fun to shop in Horaney’s,
now run by Albert and Betty Horaney. It’s the place
to get excellent advice on what radish seed will do best and
have the tangiest flavor from your home garden, how to get
rid of moles and other critters, what pesticides do best for
whatever weed or insect is bugging you or your animals, how
to plant various vegetables or flowers, or to find out if
there’s a specific tool that will fit a special need.
Area ranchers and farmers still fill their needs for feed,
fertilizers, seeds and equipment requirements, and find the
store a good place to see friends and exchange information.
In many ways, Horaney’s Feed Store is a social center
as well as a business.
But the Horaney’s family needed to
expand their store – not only to serve their ever-growing
clientele and to better display the burgeoning supply of merchandise,
but because of he dangers of fire in the old wood made framed
store. “All that old wood made our place nothing but
a match box waiting to go up.” Horaney said.
He’s right, of course, and
that’s the way of progress in business. The new Horaney’s
Feed Store reflects the Horaney family’s trust in Longview’s
continued growth and their ability to attract customers in
the ever-tightening retail business. Area residents can continue
to expect the same friendly service in the new location and
because of its long-standing community reputation, we hope
Horaney’s Feed Store will be around for generations
to come to enjoy. Congratulations to the Albert Horaney family
in their new store.
Longview News-Journal,
Editorial
 When
fire consumed the 40-year-old R. B. Cook & Co. Feed Store
in Gilmer, Albert Horaney knew it was time to pack up his
feed store and go.
“The next morning, I said we’re
moving the whole thing,” recalls Horaney. “All
that old wood made our place nothing but a match box waiting
to go up. My daddy’s store had been there 53 years,
and I was not going to see it burn.”
Daddy’s store – the matchbox
– was, of course, Horaney’s Feed Store. Harry
Horaney opened in the summer of 1940. Last month, the downtown
landmark was locked for the last time. The new Horaney’s
opened across the street.
Today, the original store stands like
a forlorn, mute sentinel to East Texas history. Harry Horaney
came to the U.S. from Syria, attracted to East Texas by the
oil boom. He settled in Gladewater, but soon came to Longview
and opened his store.
The rest is history – for the
town and the family.
Horaney’s quickly became a
community gathering place as well as a store. The business
got larger as the town got larger; more people came to buy
and visit. The town evolved out of its rural heritage, the
people changed, and the store carried new merchandise to keep
pace.
“In 1940, my daddy ran a feed
store. He sold to farmers. That’s all it was,”
says Albert Horaney. “Then he progressed to seed, then
to hardware.
“In the early 50s, we started
selling roses. When we did that we began to get customers
interested in chemicals and insecticides. The chemicals led
to garden tools, and the garden equipment began to attract
homeowners.”
Today, Horaney’s makes half
its money off ranchers and farmers, and half off homeowners.
But, it still sells 1,000 sacks of feed and fertilizer a day.
And while the business did all that growing, the building
didn’t; it only got older and more cluttered.
“I knew if we were going to
continue in business, we were going to have to do something.
I threatened my family for years that if we didn’t build
a new store I was going to quit.” Horaney says. “We
are not disorganized, but the old store was a mess. We had
no control over inventory, no floor space.
“Stuff was stacked to the ceiling.
We were ordering what we already had. And what we weren’t
burying, the rats were eating.”
What is now the new store was actually
started 13 months ago as the warehouse for the old store.
The building was near completion in September when fire destroyed
the old Cook store in Gilmer. The event helped Horaney convince
everyone else it was time to shutter the old building.
The warehouse construction was converted
in midconstruction to accommodate the retail sales operation.
Early in November, the new Horaney’s opened on Methvin.
And the old store passed into history.
Ironically, although his father founded
the store, Albert Horaney also witnessed just about every
moment, every event, at the historic place.
“I was there from the beginning.
I’d walk to the store from grade school to help my daddy,”
Horaney says. “He was there everyday, doing what he
needed to.
“I’ll always remember
how cold that store got. There were winter days when my father’s
hands were so frozen he had to blow on them to count change
out of the register.”
But perhaps the strongest recollection
of his father centers upon the soft side of a domineering
man.
“My daddy was a tough, hard
man. Like anyone in those days, he did what he had to do to
survive.” Recalls Horaney. “But I remember seeing
poor people walk in our store hungry, needing help. He never
let anyone know, but I saw him reach in his pocket and give
them what he could.”
Beyond the memories of his father,
Horaney says the history of the family’s business is,
just business. Major events, celebrities, crises, robberies,
violence…
All of those bypassed the original
Horaney’s. It was just a store run by a dedicated man
almost to the day of his death in 1977; people coming to buy
merchandise and visit with their neighbors one day at a time
for 53 years.
When Harry Horaney opened the place,
Longview’s population was only 13,700, the oil boom
was new, and the nation was preparing for war. In 1993, when
Albert Horaney opened the new store, the population is nearing
80,000, the oil boom is dying, and a new kind of was is brewing
– at least in the retail industry.
Giant discount stores like Wal-Mart
have invaded nearly every community, and family operations
like Horaney’s are historically the first to fall as
casualties of the price-cutting. But that’s a war Albert
Horaney isn’t fighting, thank you. In fact he’s
not even paying attention.
“I believe if I tend to my
business, price it right, give some service, I won’t
have to worry about what other stores are doing.”
So far it’s working. Horaney
says the store has done more business every year since 1940,
and 1993 will be no exception. Moreover, people are not only
coming to the new store, they’re still staying to visit.
On occasion customers mention better
prices elsewhere, but that’s not a common problem. “Once
in a while someone will tell us they can get it for less at
another place. That doesn’t upset me. I just tell them
we can’t sell it for that.” Horaney says.
I’m no big operator, but I’m
a pretty good buyer. I know how to keep prices down. It’s
a natural thing with me.
“I guess I learned it being
around my daddy all those years.”
Longview News-Journal,
Sunday, December 19, 1993
 Walking
into Horaney Inc.’s store in downtown Longview is like
stepping into the past in one way and into the Twilight Zone
in another. The rough board floor, the smells of feed, fertilizer,
hay and farm and leather are a scent of yesteryear to most
city folk. A host of most unusual items and gadgets sets one
to wondering “Do people really use those things?”
or, “How does that work?” and, “What on
earth is that?”
It’s more than a feed store. It’s
a page out of Longview’s history. Those who can remember
when Harry S. Horaney started his store at 207 Court St. in
August 1940 will note some changes such as the warehouse which
was built about five years ago and the more recent acquisition
of the adjacent lot across Methvin Street where items such
as squeeze chutes, head gates and large feeding troughs are
displayed.
But by and large, the store seems to retain
its atmosphere of 45 years ago. The friendly, helpful service
hasn’t changed. Harry Horaney’s family business
legacy is being carried on by his son Albert, and Albert’s
wife Betty, who is a store mainstay who patiently answers
questions from what medicine to use for worming cattle to
what vegetables seeds can be planted in the fall. The pace
of business can be hectic, but the Horaney’s like it
that way.
“Albert starting working in the store
as soon as he was old enough,” said Betty, “and
I sort of married into the business 28 years ago. Harry Horaney
died eight years ago but it appears the family interest in
the unique business will keep it going for many years to come.
Wandering through the store is a nostalgic
trip for many. One could almost write a new trivia game based
on the store inventory. “What’s white lime used
for,” you may ask. “Among its many uses, you can
dry potatoes with it,” answers Betty. “It’s
a lot different from the lime you use in the soil.”
 Those
who were raised in the county atmosphere will remember the
“Saturday Night Tub” used for bathing. Horaney’s
carries a complete line of tubs and buckets.
There’s more different kinds of wire
than one can imagine. Chicken wire, rabbit wire, hog wire,
barbed wire, barbless wire, cloth wire, welded wire and the
list goes on. There’s metal gates, stockage panels,
tinhorn culverts, nails, staples, and five-gallon jugs of
peanut oil.
There’s a line of woodburning stoves
and a wide variety of cast iron pots, pans, lids and teakettles.
Canning supplies, pottery, oil and kerosene lamps, cork stoppers
and birdhouses of all sizes are all among the other unique
items.
Talk about feeders. Horaney’s carries a feeder for everything
from hummingbirds to poultry to cattle to horses to deer.
Incidentally, sales of feeder corn and salt blocks go up before
and during deer hunting season. And, horse and mule feed or
cottonseed cake is often purchased by fisherman to bait piers
or favorite fishing holes. And there’s a variety of
water troughs and automatic watering devices.
Three guard cats – Ugly, Blacky,
and Miss Boss – patrol the store, with particular emphasis
on the warehouse section with feed. But customers will note
the felines seem to go where they want to go and nap where
they want to nap. But, Betty says they control the mice and
other critters, which are attracted to the feed.
Need a cowbell to ring at the football
games? Horaney’s has then in a variety of shapes and
sizes. A wide range of traps, including the “Catch “Em
Alive” humane traps. Are available for the professional
trapper or the person who wants to catch an animal and relocate
it. There’s slap mole and gopher traps.
The store always had baby chicks, and often
has guinea fowl. In the spring, one can buy ducks and turkeys.
There’s even infrared lighting sets for incubators and
brooding pens and ceramic nesting eggs to encourage hens to
set and hatch their eggs. “Some people buy them when
they have a problem with egg-eating snakes.” Betty said.
“The snake swallows the ceramic egg and kills it.”
While blacksmithing is almost a lost art,
the store carries a line of tools for that profession, including
the shoes. A line of tack and other equipment for horse owners
covers a small room and several pair of chaps hang from a
wall. A refrigerated case carries a number of medications
for farm animals, such as vitamins medications for horses,
and other animal products. Dog collars and leashes and brushes
for all kinds of animals are available. Betty said the store
stocks and sells large amount of bulk dog food. One modern
line, which almost seems out of place in the store, is a series
of video cassette tapes on care and training of horses.
There’s a large supply of lawn, farm
and agriculture supplies. Chemicals are available to treat
everything from fire ants to potato bugs to roaches to screwworms.
Soil additives, manure, fertilizer, mulch, pine bark, peat
moss and other materials are available for the small gardener
or the farmer. Weed killers, spray tanks and guns, wood handles
for gardening tools, push brooms, manure scoops and snow shovels
are found in various parts of the store on overhead racks.
 A
large and popular portion of the rear of the store is devoted
to bulk seed supplies. One can buy seed for a number of varieties
of corn, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, lettuce and other
vegetables and herbs. In season, onion sets and bedding plants
are available. Customers seem to prefer buying seed from the
bulk supplies as opposed to the commercially packaged seeds.
“It doesn’t matter if they are just planting a
few things in a flower bed or if they are planting large gardens,”
she said. “They like to buy from the bulk seed.”
Fake six-feet long snakes or Great Horned
owls can be purchased to place in gardens and poultry pens
to scare rodents and birds.
And if the vegetable gardener or farmer
wants baskets for their produce, there’s a wide line
of baskets. There are bushel and half bushel baskets, and
peck and half peck baskets. The smaller baskets are bright
red and green and many of the store’s customers buy
them at Christmas to make food baskets as presents.
Betty said the store has a lot of visitors
who come in just to look around. “People will come from
out of town and our customers will bring them down just to
see the type of things we carry.” Part of that tourism
charm was enhanced by a mention in Bob Bowman’s book
“Best of East Texas” in which the store is cited.
Again, the appeal of the store is not only
in the age, charm, unique line of merchandise and nostalgia.
The friendly service is in itself an attraction. “We
try to offer services to show we appreciate our customers,”
Betty said. “If they want something we don’t have
in stock, we’ll try to get it for them.”
Store hours are from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
through Friday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Despite repeal
of the Texas Blue Law, the Horaney family does not plan to
open on Sunday.
Longview Morning Journal,
Sunday, September 1, 1985
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