The historic Farmer’s Supply building, located at 101 East Main Street, is one of the oldest buildings in Floyd. Throughout its lifetime, it has been mainly used for dry goods and hardware and has been the home of Farmer’s Supply since the 1940’s. For roughly the last hundred years, the building has been owned by the Lawson family, and is currently owned by Jack Lawson.
Farmer’s Supply was founded by Jack’s grandfather, Harry Leland Lawson, and for over seventy years, it was a valuable resource for Floyd’s predominant farming community. In more recent years, however, large chain stores, as well as an uncertain economy and supply issues, have made operating the supply store less and less viable. In 2021, long-time manager, Janice Patton, was also ready to retire. Janice started working at Farmer’s Supply in the 1970’s when her father was manager. She was such a fixture that many who didn’t know better assumed she was the owner.
Considering the uncertain economic viability of continuing to operate Farmer’s Supply, as well as facing the task of finding a replacement for the irreplaceable Janice, Farmer’s Supply closed its doors in December of 2021.
This, however, is far from the end of the story for 101 East Main Street. The closure of Farmers Supply was actually the beginning of a bright new chapter in the life of the historic building. The Lawson family had no interest in selling the building, and so they began exploring viable ways to move forward with new purpose.
“It was the right time to reinvent,” says Jack Lawson’s cousin, Lucas Thornton. Lucas is also the current manager of the property.
Lucas and the Lawson family began working through a program sponsored by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), the National Park Service, and the Secretary of the Interior. The program takes interest in historic buildings with architecture and structure that typifies the region, as well as landmark buildings that have been used for iconic purposes, typical of the region. The program encourages redevelopment of these properties and offers a tax credit program that helps to offset the costs of redevelopment.
Work began in summer of 2021 at the old Farmers Supply building, returning it to the glory of its youth, yet maintaining the architecture and structure from the most significant period of its use, which has remained relatively unchanged for the last hundred years. Work is scheduled to be finished sometime in September of 2022.
Not only is the building being restored, but it’s also getting repurposed. Lucas Thornton tells us that parts of the structure will be converted into five units that will serve as a small inn, booked through Airbnb. One unit will be on the first floor, with the other four units split between the second and third floors. The units will be ready for booking in October of 2022, and will be maintained and managed by Alleghany Partners, a management company from Roanoke.
Also slated for the first floor, the Farmer’s Supply building will become home to its first, non-Lawson-family-owned, commercial tenants!
Lichen or Knot, established and owned by Heather Barbieri, will be creating a new space at the Farmer’s Supply building. In the new location, she will be featuring mostly indoor plants while also offering workshops. Her space will have an outdoor gardening area in the back, next to the Farmer’s Market, and she plans to leave the old loading dock as a historical feature of the building. She wants to incorporate the dock and make it a featured part of the new shop.
Meanwhile, Jeff and Annie Armistead, owners of Phoenix Hardwoods, are happy to announce that their showroom will be moving to the Farmer’s Supply building, this Fall! (Left: Jeff and Annie Armistead)
The Armisteads, along with their son, Ben, took over Phoenix Hardwoods in 2020 when founders and owners, Bill and Corinne Graefe, decided to retire. Prior to the change in ownership, both the workshop and showroom for Phoenix were located at 2540 Floyd Highway, North…about six miles northeast from downtown Floyd.
Historically, Phoenix Hardwoods has utilized the trees growing in and near Floyd to create one-of-a-kind, rustic-luxury pieces of fine furniture, as well as exquisite home items like handmade cutting boards and bowls. Helping them along the way has been a talented staff of amazingly gifted woodworkers like Bradley Lawson, Eric McDaniel, and Henry VanGunten.
Wanting a visual presence that would be closer to the hub of Floyd’s tourism and shopping, Annie Armistead, who is also co-owner of Troika Contemporary Crafts and Troika Home, decided to make space in Troika Home for some of Phoenix’s larger, and more spectacular pieces. Located in The Station, right across the street from Floyd Country Store, Troika Home was able to give Phoenix Hardwoods a higher profile.
Still, the bulk of the inventory remained at the workshop location. However, thanks to the redevelopment project at the Farmer’s Supply building, Phoenix Hardwoods will be moving the entire inventory to a much larger showroom at 101 East Main Street! Phoenix Hardwoods will not only be able to spread out into a much larger space, with many more items, but they will be doing so at a storefront that bears their own name, right in the heart of downtown Floyd!
“When Farmer’s Supply closed,” says Annie Armistead, “we saw an opportunity to be closer in, with more visibility and foot traffic to display our items.”
Not only will they be able to display a larger inventory from the Phoenix workshops, but the larger space will also allow the Armisteads to feature other items like home accessories, some of which would be sourced from local artists.
As the workshop will remain at the old location, it will also be able to expand. With all the inventory at the new showroom, Henry, Bradley, Eric, and all the other talented woodworkers will have more room to work on more pieces. Jeff tells us they also plan to bring on additional wood working artists to make the most of the workshop, and to allow new talents to enrich and expand the Phoenix Hardwoods brand.
For more information about Phoenix Hardwoods and their one-of-a-kind line of fine furniture and hand-crafted, wooden home items, visit online at www.phoenix-hardwoods.com.
“We are super excited about housing homegrown companies,” says Lucas Thornton, reflecting on how Floyd has changed in the hundred years since the Lawson family bought the Farmer’s Supply building. “We’d also like to express our deep commitment to the community and hope to be part of the changing community for a long time. We have connections to the past but look to the future. Our roots in Floyd are deep and we always remember those who came before us.”

Phoenix Hardwoods • Annie and Jeff Armistead
2540 Floyd Hwy N, Floyd, VA • 540-745-7475
www.Phoenix-Hardwoods.com