Small Business Saturday: A Shout Out to the Small Businesses That Help Us Thrive

This Small Business Saturday, we’d like to take a moment to give a shout-out to some of the wonderful small businesses that produce the products that help larger businesses like ours function. Not all of the vendors we work with are large international corporations like Garmin, and not everything is outsourced and manufactured overseas. Many of our products are produced locally by small businesses, often run by just one or a handful of people.

 

Local Seamstress

For longer than I’ve worked at Lion Country Supply, we’ve been working with a wonderful lady who runs a local seamstress business. She handmakes numerous products for us, including our Handler’s and Trainer’s Jackets, Brown Crate Pads, Waterproof Chaps, and Warm Weather Chaps. Every single one of these items is hand-cut and sewn in her shop.

 

 

Local Metal Work

All of our Stake Outs, Tip-up Bird Releasers, Ground Hooks, and Heavy Stakes are cut and welded locally by a group of Amish metal workers. Over the years, we’ve worked with several generations of workers from that shop, as the business has been handed down to younger generations.

 

 

Local Powder Coating

All of our metal items that are powder-coated are also done locally by a father-and-son powder coating shop. The owner of the powder coating business personally delivers every order—and he always comes with his trusty K9 passenger.

 

Shotgun Inserts

Our 209 Shotgun Primer Inserts are made by an employee of ours and his CNC machinist dad as a side business. Every one of these brass inserts starts as a 12-foot rod of brass, which is cut and milled to size, then CNC machined with a port and primer seat. Finally, they’re engraved with “Lion Country Supply” name and the corresponding gauge.

 

Handmade Bells

Several of the bells we sell are handmade, but one we’d like to shout out today is the Flewelling Bell, handmade in Maine. We’ve gotten to know the maker of these bells through one of our employees at field trials. The bells are crafted in an auto body repair shop. The owner initially made a few bells for himself and some friends, but as they became more popular, he started producing them for sale.

 

Bird Cages

All of our wired cages and carriers are another locally made Amish product. Each of these cages is hand-cut, hand-bent, and hand-crimped. The maker of these is another multi-generational business where we’ve had the pleasure of working with the grandfather, father, and son within the business.

 

Conclusion

The products mentioned here are just a few dozen of the many items we sell that are produced by small businesses. We want to thank every one of them for all the years of collaboration, and we look forward to supporting your business for many more years to come.

• Michael Cassatt, Director of Marketing