Tractor Supply Co. coming to Oxford

by Duke Harrington
     
     OXFORD - Tractor Supply Company, the nation's largest retail farm and ranch store, is coming to Oxford.
     A plan has been submitted to the town office for a 19,097-square-foot store, with an adjacent 20,000-square-foot drive-thru garden area and 66 parking spots. The store is to be located on Route 26, between Bolsters Monumental and Great Scott! Storage, near Wal-Mart.
     According to code enforcement officer Rodney Smith, the plan is all Oxford has in hand at the moment, although the company has okayed disclosure of its plans. Representatives from Tractor Supply will appear to submit a formal site review application at a special planning board meeting, set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, at the town office.
     "They're coming in with all guns loaded," said Smith. "They've really been doing their homework. I expect they'll come in with everything they need."
     "We don't have a signed lease in hand at this point," said company spokesman Susan Morgenstern, Tuesday, "but I can tell you that we are very interested in Oxford.
     "Our stores go where our customers are," said Morgenstern, "and our customers are people who have land, property or animals to take care of."
     Although the application may be declared complete on the 29th, Smith said it's doubtful the company will get final approval that night. Still, Smith said, the development appears to be on the fast track, which appears to please many.
     "Everybody who's come in here that I've talked to about this, they've all been excited about it because they've seen Tractor Supply stores in other states," said Smith.
     According to Morgenstern, if all goes well, the company could begin construction as early as this fall. Smith says the company will own the private road next to Bolster's, Monumental Drive, which it plans to pave.
     Founded in 1938 in Minot, North Dakota, as a mail order company dealing in tractor parts, Tractor Supply now operates 791 stores in 43 states, with annual sales of more than $2 billion. Headquartered in Brentwood, TN, the company employs more than 10,000.
     The company currently has stores in Scarborough and Skowhegan, with two other Maine locations, in addition to Oxford, in the plannning stage.
     Although the company sells lawn tractors, it no longer sells or services large, agricultural tractors.
     "That confuses some people," admits Morgenstern, "but the name has such a rich heritage for us that we've kept it."
     Today, Tractor Supply, has branched out into many lines supporting the rural lifestyle, including pet and livestock supplies, work wear, lawn and garden equipment and power tools. The company prides itself on keeping a welder, a farmer and a horse owner on staff in each store.
     "Those are often the things that we find our customers can use advice on," says Morgenstern, "so we want to make sure we have people that can answer questions based on their own knowledge and life experience."
     According to Morgenstern, the typical Tractor Supply store typical employs between 15 and 18 people, including both full and part-time help.
     Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings, Tractor Supply is most comparable to Paris Farmer's Union, among local retailers.
     "It's good to see a business that's going forward with building right now," he said, Friday.
     Oxford selectmen were upset earlier this year when Lowe's scuttled plans to open a store in Oxford, blaming the bureaucracy at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for delaying construction until last December, when economic conditions were less favorable than in May, 2007, when Lowe's applied for permitting.
     The Tractor Supply site is about half the size of the one Lowe's was proposed for.
     DEP Commissioner David Littell is scheduled to meet with Oxford selectmen at their next regular meeting, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, at the town office.