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By Melinda Williams
PULASKI — Tractor Supply
Company has negotiated a lease to take over the former Kroger building in
Pulaski.
Tractor Supply is leasing the
building from The Keith Corporation of Charlotte,
N.C., which recently purchased it
from Real Star Realtors of Roanoke.
Dave Hanby, a retail
development partner with Keith Corporation, said renovations are underway to
make the building suitable for the retail farm and ranch store. He said about
$700,000 in renovations are expected to be completed so the store can be turned
over to Tractor Supply by the first of the year.
Hanby said the
27,000-square-foot building sits on about six acres. A fenced display yard will
be installed on the west side of the building to allow for outdoor storage.
Tractor Supply, headquartered
in Brentwood, Tenn.,
is the largest retail farm and ranch store chain in the United States.
According to its website, the
company operates more than 700 retail stores in more than 37 states and one
Canadian province and employs more than 10,000 associates.
It’s closest stores are in
Christiansburg, Galax, Marion and Bluefield, W.Va., but it
also has stores in Bedford, Bristol,
Charlottesville, Culpeper, Danville,
Farmville, Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg,
Leesburg, Lexington, Madison
Heights, Marshall, Mechanicsville,
Midlothian, South Boston, Staunton, Warrenton, Winchester, Wise and Woodstock.
The company was founded in
1938 as a mail order catalog business offering tractor parts. By 1939, it had
grown into a successful retail store in Minot,
North Dakota. Today the company’s
revenues are surpassing $2 billion.
Tractor Supply stores
typically are 15,000 to 24,000 square feet under roof, with a comparable amount
of outside display space for agricultural fencing, livestock equipment and
horse stalls. The stores are mostly in rural areas and the suburbs of major
cities.
Products range from welders
and generators to animal care products, work clothing for both men and women,
pet supplies and animal feed, power tools, riding mowers, lawn and garden
products, and more.
Each store also employs a
welder, farmer and horse owner to “collectively provide an exceptional depth of
knowledge and resources,” according to the website.
http://www.southwesttimes.com/news.php?id=951
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