Business & Tech
Fern Hill Family Farms Auction Set for June 22
The June 22 auction is billed as a must-sell, nothing-held-back bidding opportunity for antique primitives and big-farm, restaurant, and grocery and produce items.
At the "big red barn" in Riverview, shoppers could purchase "produce so fresh, it slept in the garden last night." No longer, as Fern Hill Family Farms closed its doors in May, making possible the four-in-one auction set to take place at the property June 22.
Up for bid, at 10070 Fern Hill Drive, are items in four broad categories — big-farm equipment, restaurant equipment, antique primitives and grocery and produce furnishings, said auctioneer John Harris, of Harris Auctions.
"This is four auctions in one," he said. "Any one of these could be an auction by itself. There's 350 items to auction and they're all going to go, absolute, because everything has to sell. That means there's no reserve, no minimum."
What sets this auction apart is the "diversity and quality," he said. "There's gorgeous stuff there. The market was open for about three weeks. Sadly, it had to close. But for the buyer [in the market] for kitchen, for store, or for farm equipment, or if you're a collector of primitives, this is just a really, really cool opportunity."
Reaction to the closing of Fern Hill Family Farms, owned and operated by Jerry and Becky Hoffman, hit the community hard, prompting Tanya Doran, director of the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce, to write in an email to members: "My heart breaks over this."
Harris said he was well aware of the family business even before he was contracted to run the auction.
"I went by there and picked strawberries with my daughter," he said. "I think it's very sad how much time and effort this family put into a very impressive place to see it closed so quickly."
Doran noted in her email that up for sale as well is the property itself. As noted, this involves a "new building" and 16.5 acres with mixed "general commercial and planned development commercial industrial" zoning. "The current owners became overwhelmed and want/need to sell as soon as possible." Noted as contacts for the sale are Jerry Hoffman (813-503-2696) and Becky Hoffman (813-503-2966). The building can be viewed online at Fern Hill Family Farms.
Meanwhile, the June 22 auction is set to start at 10 a.m.
As Harris explains it, the auction is broken down into four categories:
- Big-Farm Operation — with equipment, including tractor, mower, golf cart, wheelbarrows and some odds- and-ends, such as pipe, railroad timber and storage containers.
- Restaurant — including a complete commercial kitchen with 10 pieces, ovens, mixers, slicers, coolers, ice-cream machines, tables and chairs.
- Antique Primitives — including antique kitchen equipment, tools, sleds and farm implements, such as rakes, hoes and post-hole diggers. "An antique primitive literally is old and rusty and looks like something that would come out of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, like decor you would see on the wall there," Harris said. In this category are "160 pieces, antiques in their original condition, not cleaned up, still in storage, that were going to be used in the market's decor."
- Grocery and Produce — including displays and scales.
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