Beekeepers open their first retail store in Pinal County
You’ve probably seen little jars for sale at local restaurants, hardware stores and gift shops, but now there’s a place to find all the flavors of Clark Bees honey in a range of sizes. The company’s first retail store has just opened on Adamsville Road, just north of State Route 287.
“I’m mostly a beekeeper,” Allen Clark said. “We did this because we’ve got some good employees and we were running out of work for them. … And I’ve had a lot of people ask me to sell honey.”
The store is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. A grand opening is set for Jan. 18.
It’s raw, pure honey with no heating, filtering or additives – “all the natural pollen, all the natural enzymes that are in honey, they’re still there,” Clark said.
Different flavors such as cotton and citrus are labeled according to where the bees have been active. Mesquite, cat claw and wildflower are Clark’s most popular flavors. Wildflower is “a blend of everything” after the summer monsoon. A customer Monday morning said Clark’s wildflower honey helped with her allergies.
Buckwheat is only available every eight or 10 years. “Last year we made five barrels; when this is out, we’re done until the next time it comes around. It’s a very rare product. We should increase the price, but we’re not,” Clark said.
For Clark and his wife, Cheryl, honey isn’t even their main business. About 75% of it is pollination for farmers. Farmers schedule them when their crops need pollination, then after a month or so it’s on to the next grower.
They operate about 3,000 hives, a few more in the springtime. “We keep them moving all the time; they get moved six or seven times a year.” In 50 years as a beekeeper, “I’ve never had to promote my business,” Clark said. “All the pollination work I’ve had I got from word of mouth. I’ve never had to knock on doors, I never took another beekeeper’s job away from them.”
댓글
댓글 쓰기