Local beekeeping business is buzzing

Lowdown Bee Supply has become the beekeeping hub in central Wisconsin.

Lance and Katrina Low, who have been beekeeping for around seven years, have expanded their business to include a store where visitors can buy equipment and honey. The store is located at 602 E. Grand Ave. in Wittenberg.

Katrina Low said the store opened up in January as an expansion of the Lows’ beekeeping business in Tigerton. The Lows had been selling beekeeping equipment out of their garage and decided to put a store to it.

Lowdown Bee Supply will be used as a “one-stop shop,” according to Katrina Low. They will provide interested parties any equipment that they need, including the bees.

“We have access to anything,” said Katrina Low. “We sell nucs (starter packages of bees) — we have access to large equipment, we can get anything.”

According to Lance Low, another reason why the store was opened was a lack of beekeeping supply outlets for residents of central Wisconsin.

“There is nothing around here,” said Lance Low. “Everyone in the central Wisconsin area had to either travel far out or go online to get supplies.”

Katrina Low added that the closest sources for people to go for beekeeping equipment are in Rhinelander and Eau Claire.

The store has seen a lot of traffic.

“It is doing very well,” said Katrina Low. “We have seen a lot of local people that we did not know were interested in bees and did not have access to equipment. I have been pleasantly surprised.”

The family said that people have even been inquiring about bees from all over the country, and they have even sent honey to places like Colorado and New Mexico.

Lance Low said that due to the way the bees produce honey, busy times for the store will be in spring and fall.

“It kind of goes with the seasons,” said Lance Low. “We are busy in springtime when everybody gets their bees, and then it kind of tapers off, and then when honey starts up in fall, people will come in for bottling honey.”

“I am hoping that we will get an influx of business when bees produce the honey,” added Katrina Low. “If people are looking into shipping their bees, we have access to that as a possibility.”

The Lows believe that having a store like this is important because bees play such a big role in every community.

“A third of everything that you eat, a bee has touched and pollinated,” said Lance Low. “If we don’t have bees, you are not eating.”

“No bees, no people,” added Katrina Low. “People don’t realize the importance of saving the bees.”

As the business continues to grow, the Lows are looking for more avenues of continuing to expand their business in the future.

“I already started talking to people to start having classes here,” said Lance Low. “It will be for first-timers, people who are just learning. We want to teach them how to raise queens and how to make your own queens.”

“We know a lot of information, we know a lot of people, and we have a lot of different outlooks that we would be able to bring to people,” said Katrina Low.

Lance Low said that he is talking to schools in the area about bringing information about bees into the school system. This would involve fitting students with equipment and having them learn about bees with hands-on experience.

Lowdown Bee Supply currently manages around 400 hives with millions of bees.

“We are just doing our part to help what we can do,” said Katrina Low.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com