Rural family-owned business in Arizona worries about proposed tariffs

SOMERTON, AZ (AZFamily) — Lerma’s Feed Western Wear & More is celebrating 20 years in business. The family-owned Somerton business sells Western-style clothing, feed, and animal products.

Owner Efraim Lerma describes it as a toy store for people looking for Western wear and equipment. He opened the store with his wife in 2004.

“I was in retail and she was a banker and we wanted to open our own business and we did,” said Lerma.

He said it’s because of his family that they’ve been able to grow their business and stay open for so long. His son Adam helps manage it, too.

“When you have a dream of having a store, this is what I dreamed of to have it the way it looks now,” said Lerma. “For all those western people that ride horses, we have all their gear.”

While celebrating wins for their 20th anniversary, they’re also bracing for possible price hikes from distributors once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“Every time we order it’s a new price and it’s never the same. We have to keep marking it and marking it up,” said Lerma.

Lerma said they’ve been dealing with growing prices for the past couple of years, some of which are due to inflation, but they’ve been able to overcome those hurdles.

As with any business, there have been uncertain times. The biggest challenge so far was keeping the doors open through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In October 2020 I got COVID, so I had to leave the hospital, and I got ventilated,” said Lerma, who was hospitalized in Phoenix for 60 days.

“The doctors had told my wife that I was not coming home because I was not getting any better. Everyone was praying for me and God saved me,” said Lerma.

He thought he’d return home to a failing business, but his kids stepped up.

“My son and my family kept it going because I couldn’t be here,” he said.

While other stores have closed down, his son says they have loyal customers who keep them open.

“The economy changes and there’s ups and downs, we do what we can control and that’s providing the best customer service for our customers,” said Adam Lerma, the store’s manager.

Their resilience over the past two decades is helping the Lerma family stay positive, even with the possibility of price hikes from proposed tariffs.

Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on products from Mexico and even higher tariffs on imports from China, up to 60%.

Many economists say it will hurt small businesses, and the cost will be passed on to consumers.

Lerma said he’ll probably have to bear some of the costs to keep customers happy.

“That’s the good thing about me being the owner. If something is retailed at a certain price I’ll go half and half. I get to choose how I want to price things. I’ll drop it down a little bit from the retail so I’ll help the customer out but yet they’ll still help me out by buying it from me,” said Lerma.

“So I’ll kind of help them out, and I think that’s what’s going to happen with this new tax. We’re just going to have to deal with it,” he added.

Most business owners would not be pleased with the hit, but Lerma has faith they’ll get through it.

“When we’ve struggled, we have always come out of it. I always feel God provides for us . He sends me the right people and we’re still here, we’ve hung in there,” said Lerma.

That’s why they’re thanking customers on Saturday as they celebrate the milestone in Somerton. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., they’ll hand out food and raffle off products from their store.

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