Service, product and knowledge anchor the nostalgic general store.

Planters Seed and Spice Co. has a customer relationship many companies only dream about. Their employees will carry your purchases to your car, they will tell you how to plant your garden products and how to use spices.

Their customers bring samples they have grown back to staff at the nostalgic general store in the Historic City Market. One man in his 90s buys peanuts and always returns with brittle samples.

That service-oriented philosophy has driven Planters for 93 years. It has only had two proprietors. German immigrant Henry Wertheim founded the store in 1924, selling farm and garden seed. Donna and Leonard Slaughter brought the store in 1980.

The Slaughters had no retail experience when they bought the store, but they had great business sense. They kept the excellent management team. George Myer stayed on to run the store, followed by his son, Geoff. Donna Slaughter credits the team management for success.

Planters moved to 513 Walnut in 1928 and peddles an enticing general store stock. Slaughter said she once heard a man tell another, “If it isn’t here, you don’t need it.”