Robert Armanini opened his birdseed store, Feed the Birds! in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, in 2010. He’d moved out of New York City 18 years prior, and a new home closer to nature sparked an interest in feeding wild birds, leading him to eventually start his own business. Feed the Birds! sells birdbaths, birdhouses, a multitude of bird feeders, and premium seed mixes that include a proprietary blend of Armanini’s own design containing black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, safflower, and sunflower hearts—a calorie-packed product that’s richer in energy than a basic birdseed mix.
For the first 10 years, business was good. Armanini’s bread-and-butter customers have always been upper-middle-class people in their 50s, and there are plenty of them in the area, which has only one other specialty retailer offering high-quality seeds and mixes. “Every new homeowner eventually comes through here,” Armanini says.
But whentheCOVID-19pandemic struck in March 2020, Armanini closed his doors. He and his wife, Maria, who owns the store with him, are middle-aged, too, and they weren’t taking any chances with their health. At the time, Feed the Birds! didn’t have a website, so the Armaninis offered to take customer orders over the phone, which they’d fulfill and leave outside for pickup.
The phone rang off the hook.
“At some point we were debating hiring someone to answer the phones,” Armanini says, laughing. Feed the Birds! did very well during the pandemic, with sales spiking throughout 2020 and 2021. Much of that surge was due to new customers. “Most
