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Tractor Supply Co. looking at former Wal-mart building
JOHN HUTHMACHER
johnh@hastingstribune.com
Tractor Supply Co. has expressed interest in the former Wal-Mart building at 3000 Osborne Drive East with hopes of signing a lease soon, a company official said.
The company, which operates more than 790 stores in 43 states, specializes in clothing and materials geared toward farmers and ranchers, said Susan Morgenstern, spokeswoman for the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company.
The company hopes to begin remodeling the building by August, she said.
“We are interested in Hastings,” Morgenstern said. “We would like to have a Tractor Supply store there. We do not have a signed lease yet, so it’s not official.”
The idea of taking over part of a former Wal-Mart building is nothing new to the company, Morgenstern said.
It is unlikely the store would utilize the entire 95,000 square-foot building, she said. The unused portion of the building likely would remain available for lease.
“It’s a common scenario,” she said. “Our real estate people work closely with the Wal-Mart real estate people when they move into Super Wal-Marts.”
Bob Sherwood, owner of Plaza Equity Partners in Kansas City, Mo., which owns the former Wal-Mart building, was unavailable for comment.
Founded as a catalogue store in Minot, N.D., in 1938, Tractor Supply is now the largest retail farm and ranch store in the U.S., according to its Web site www.tractorsupply.com. The company employs more than 10,000 people.
Supplies offered by the chain store include clothing for tradesmen and others who work outdoors, and “the kind of products you need to take care of property, land, and animals,” Morgenstern said. Examples include power tools, lawn tractors, automotive supplies, agricultural fencing and animal supplies.
The building, which was purchased from Wal-Mart by Sherwood and Tim O’Neill Jr., of Atlanta-based Vanguard Associates in July 2007, was initially set to be leased in August 2007 by Country Depot, an upstart farm, home, and ranch store. But the deal fell through just weeks after a purchase contract was signed last August.
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