Honey, on your way out to the house, stop by the farm supply and get me
some welding rods and a couple bales of alfalfa for the horse. Oh, and
see if they've gotten some more mango-scented air freshener and Cowboy
Magic skin lotion. My hands are getting so dry!
You may consider such a shopping list perfectly normal, but it wouldn't
have been a typical order from a single store 25 years ago. Today's
farm-supply retailers are light-years ahead of where they were a couple
of decades ago.
True, the old places had a certain ambience. They were gloomy and rich
with the dust and aroma of sacks of sweet feed piled high. Guys who took
a break from plowing the fields or vaccinating cattle stopped in to
place a fertilizer order and find out what was really going on in town.
Those places, of course, are still around. But much of rural America,
especially surrounding metro centers, is occupied by a new set of folks.
Stores have transformed along with them and are doing very well, thank
you.
In fact, the skin lotion and air freshener mentioned above are strong
sellers for Producers Cooperative in Bryan, Texas. Producers does the
most dollar volume of any member-owned cooperative in Texas. Yet much of
its growth has come from people who work in town but live outside of it.
They might keep a horse or two, or maybe have kids in 4-H with a few
sheep, goats or calves. The co-op is a hybrid of old and new, serving
traditional ranchers but also going gangbusters with a new set of folks.
"We are not a local feed store," notes the cooperative's general
manager, James Deatherage. "We are a regional ag center doing $37
million in annual sales from one location, with over half coming from
small rural landowners. We are evolving with our customer base of
part-time farmers and ranchers. They need to know more from us than
what's on aisle four."
Indeed, successful retailers know that much of what they sell can be had
in the big box stores, sometimes cheaper. It's what goes along with the
sale that keeps their parking lots full. "We have four certified crop
advisers, an animal nutritionist, two pesticide application specialists,
two master gardeners and a nursery professional on staff here,"
Deatherage notes. Producers now has a lawn-and-garden center, but even
the so-called farm store is well lit and ultraclean so it appeals to
women.
That recipe for success is working well in rural areas for Southern
States cooperatives, too. Steve Patterson, vice president of sales and
marketing for the group, says they realized early on that going up
against giant retailers like Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart was not the
niche they wanted.
"But get to the countryside, and that's our niche," says Patterson.
"They can't compete with our knowledge there."
Change is coming. Like the other chains, Southern States has made a
strong effort to broaden its market, and Ken Swain has watched it all
happen. He started working in a co-op when he was just 17 years old. It
was 1951 in Stephens City, Va. There wasn't just one cooperative in the
county then, but three. Customers were by and large commercial farmers.
The floors were dusty, and bags of seed and feed weighed 100 pounds or
more. No one thought it would ever change.
But by 1963, those three co-ops had merged into one. It was clear then
that business was changing. Swain made the decision to be a part of the
change.
As a co-op manager, Swain has gone from serving mainly large commercial
farmers to a customer base that's mostly made up of women. And what many
of his female customers come to Southern States for is horse supplies.
"When I started, the broiler and turkey businesses were huge here,"
Swain says. "Now they are minimal. Who would have ever thought that 50
years later all of this horse feed would be purchased by women? And by
the way, goats are also pretty big business now."
"You have to adapt, accept and be positive," says the 71-year-old Swain.
"Change is coming, whether you're sitting in a rocking chair or out
there living life. Change is coming either way."
Women shoppers also figure heavily into decisions made at Land O' Lakes,
whose stores are being remodeled or built new to be bigger, brighter and
more welcoming. "In the feed business we didn't think it mattered to
spruce up," says Dick Fisher, director of dealer development for Land O'
Lakes. "But now our stores provide a nice shopping environment."
Land O' Lakes is strongest in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest so far,
with 147 concept stores that have 2,500 to 20,000 square feet of retail
area. Sure, you can get feed and animal-health items there for your
horses and dogs, but there are also sections for hardware, clothing and
gift items.
The "Agurbs" and TSC. For decades Tractor Supply Company, which started
in 1938 as a mail-order tractor parts catalog, stayed largely a
Midwestern chain that catered to traditional farmers. Lately the chain
has expanded southward and eastward rapidly and is booming along with
the trend of people moving to the country. Now based in Brentwood,
Tenn., TSC has 500 stores in more than 30 states, with plans to have 800
by 2008. And the goal is to have a total of 1,300 locations.
"In the 1980s, people from the city began moving back out, and that's
when the concept of rural lifestyle began to take off," notes Blake
Fohl, TSC's vice president of advertising and marketing. The chain has
tapped into hobby and part-time farmers in a big way.
"Since the 1990s we've had the Agurbs," Fohl says. "People want their
little piece of heaven. With interstate highways, people can live out
and commute to work. They like smaller communities and the rural
lifestyle. That is the lifestyle we serve.
"We recognize, understand and support a way of life. Where else do you
buy a bag of candy, welding rods and shots for your dog?" he asks. "Say
you buy 5 acres and want to fence it. We're one of America's largest
fencing retailers. And we supply everything for the horse but the horse
itself."
At TSC, the big sellers are outdoor power equipment; fencing; feed for
pets, large animals and wildlife; clothing; and equine products.
TSC stores average 15,000 square feet. "Typically you pull up to the
door, walk in and find what you need within 100 to 150 feet," Fohl says.
"And you find people who can explain how to use it."