Orscheln Farm and Home and Tractor Supply Company
As many of you may already know there was a recent announcement of Orscheln Farm and Home (OFH) being bought by Tractor Supply Company (TSC). We understand this has raised a lot of local questions regarding our store and we wanted to do our best to provide the community with some information. Executive Director Tonia Greiner recently sat down with Orscheln Farm and Home Store Manager, Kathy Boyer. Similar to many of you Kathy was instantly overwhelmed with lots of questions; personal questions, employee questions, customer questions and more. She has spent several hours in conference with the decision makers of OFH and TSC, to ensure that she is gaining all the knowledge she can to support the store, it’s employees, and our community.
CEO Barry Orscheln shared in an email to Manager Boyer stating, “Tractor Supply and Orscheln Farm and Home have tremendous respect for one another. We share similar culture and values. Bringing the companies together makes good business sense, as each of their companies and employees bring unique and complementary experience, knowledge, and skills. The resulting synergies will enhance the total shopping experience for our customers and the communities in which we do business. Together, we will be stronger.”
Kathy echoed this feeling saying that she is excited about working with TSC and knows that it will be a process but one she is sure that the community will receive well. The important thing to know is that a transaction of this size requires government approval, which is complex and may take time, therefore at this time there is not a set merger date. TSC anticipates that the transition process or blending of the companies may take 2 to 2 ½ years. So, don’t expect to see new signs going up anytime soon at our local Orscheln store. There is a lot of work to be done and in the meantime business is as usual.
Orscheln Farm and Home has been in our community for almost 30 years, Kathy has been with them for 23 of those. I believe it’s safe to say that we are in good hands. Our local Orscheln Farm and Home is located at 409 Central Avenue and open from 8 am – 7 pm, Monday through Saturday and 9am-6pm on Sunday.