Tractor Supply plans two new CNY sites
Author: CNY Business Journal (1996+)

OSWEGO - Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO), national operator of retail farm and ranch stores, will open new stores here in Oswego and in Norwich over the next few months.

The company - which already operates Central New York stores in Auburn, Cortland, Fulton, Sherrill, Vestal, and Watertown - is on the third year of a three-year store-opening spree. It also plans Upstate store openings this year in Chester, Lakewood, and Saratoga Springs.

The Tractor Supply Co. stores will be built at the sites of former Ames department stores. In 2002, Ames declared bankruptcy and made plans to close all of its stores.

The Oswego store will open April 24, though a "soft opening" took place Feb. 11. The Norwich store will open May 8. Both stores will employ between 12 and 15 workers - the company calls them "team members" - with employment levels rising to about 20 during the holiday shopping season, says Blake Fohl, the company's vice president of advertising and marketing.

The stores will have an 18,000-square-foot salesroom floor and a 2,500-square-foot office.