MATTOON, Ill. — While many retail chains are struggling, some continue to expand. Illinois-based farm and home retailer Rural King opened its 150th store this weekend in Sebring, Florida.
Serving rural America since 1960, Rural King has grownby offering popular big brands to rural areas. The new Sebring location offers farm and home essentials, including livestock and pet supplies, workwear, power equipment, tools, automotive products and seasonal merchandise.
“Opening our 150th store in Sebring is an incredible milestone for Rural King,” said Chief Operating Officer Michael Ladd, in a PR Newswire release. “As our country approaches its 250th anniversary, we are proud to continue investing in communities like Sebring that represent the heart of America. This store reflects our commitment to serving hardworking families with the products they depend on every day.”
The Sebring store, like the others, carries a range of established brands, including Purina, Carhartt, Ariat, Wrangler, Bad Boy Mowers, Husqvarna, Milwaukee, Smith & Wesson, Mobil 1 and Shell Rotella. Customers can shop across key categories such as livestock feed, pet care, apparel, power tools, outdoor equipment, automotive maintenance products and sporting goods.
They also are unabashedly about farm food; they offer, for instance, a selection of breeding hens. One of their items is a “Old Faithful Chick Breeds Assortment – Female” which is teased with a handsome selection of hens, to grow into egg layers. The whole approach is teased with enthusiasm and graphic boldness of Buc-ee’s, and many of the same regions of customers.
The company’s offerings are unabashedly American, with subsidiary companies RK Tractors, RK Guns and RK Talent, their combined human resources and scholarship program.
The map of Rural King stores. Their website shows an aggressive program of internships and scholarships.
Rural King, also known as RK Holdings LLP, was founded in Mattoon, Illinois, in 1960 as “America’s Farm and Home Store.” The company has grown to 150 locations across 17 states. It offers a broad range of essential goods, including food, feed and seed, serving communities throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Rural King Supply was founded on June 5, 1960 neighboring farmers Kermit Speer and Keith Beaird, who sold their farms, pooled their resources, and opened the original 7,200-square-foot store in a former implement building to provide essential farm and home supplies. The business grew quickly, adding a second location in Paris, Illinois, in 1962, followed by further expansions across the region. It became a family enterprise in the late 1970s when Kermit Speer’s nephews—Gary Melvin in 1979 and Bruce Speer in 1982—purchased interests and took on active leadership roles, with Gary beginning in store operations and Bruce managing new locations such as Litchfield and Terre Haute before advancing to corporate purchasing and expansion. Today, Rural King remains a third-generation, family-owned company under the leadership of Alex Melvin (Gary’s son and Kermit’s great-nephew) as owner and chairman, with the Speer and Melvin families continuing the founders’ mission of serving rural America from its Mattoon, Illinois, headquarters.
Tractor Supply Company began in 1938 as a Chicago-based mail-order tractor parts operation and has become the nation’s largest rural lifestyle retailer. the publicly traded Fortune 500 Tractor Supply operates more than 2,300 stores in 49 states from its Brentwood, Tennessee, headquarters, emphasizing a broad national footprint serving recreational farmers, ranchers and pet owners.
The retailer is also known for its in-store tradition of offering free popcorn and coffee to customers.
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