J2 Farm Supply in Bellis: “Any product you find in my store, I have used myself”

By Irene van der Kloet

Just short of three years ago, Jen O’Reilly and Jason Cherniwchan started their farm store J2 Farm Supply, three kilometres past Bellis. Jen and Jason are farmers themselves and use the same products they sell in their store. “I wanted to have a business where I could help producers and actually give them some real feedback instead of ‘I don’t know.’ I have used every product here, and I have an opinion”, Jenn adds.

In the three years that they have run the store, they have expanded the range of products from supplies for cows to poultry, ducks and geese, and a line of Hoffman’s horse feed. They are currently looking into a line of Aurora Ag horse feed. As for hardware used on the farm, they carry a Gallagher electric fence line and can show a client the actual use of a Gallagher electric fence. This extensive variety results from clients’ demands: what clients request is what Jen and Jason get in their store. “We keep branching out in different areas that we’ve been asked for.”

What more or less started their store are the “Cross Five Cattle Coolers,” an insulated vaccine cooler where the user can store vaccines and syringes. Jen and Jason are the Canadian distributors, and they distribute them to vet clinics in BC, Alberta,  Saskatchewan, and to end-users and producers.

Asked about the impact of Covid on a business that started just before the pandemic, Jenn says: “Covid threw our porch pickup in high gear. We do a lot of ship out orders directly to stores or we do a lot of porch pickups where they put their order in days or a week ahead of time, we leave it on the porch for them or wherever they want, and they can come to pick it up whatever time works for them”. 

One of the biggest hurdles is to get the word out that they are there, as they are not located directly on the highway (28). Jen would like to put up a sign by the highway directing clients to their store.

Not every item is published on the website, but everything is in the newly released catalogue, where a person can pick what they are looking for.

Jen adds: “I want the public to know our two slogans:

1. We do on-location pickup, daily deliveries to Smoky Lake and ship to people’s door.
2. We are always open; people can call any time, all calls are redirected to my cell number”.