New store set to open in former Wal-Mart space
Tractor Supply Company, on Diamond Hill Road, appears ready to serve customers
WOONSOCKET – Tractor Supply Company will quietly open its fourth Rhode Island store at 1913 Diamond Hill Road – the former WalMart – tomorrow at 8 a.m., the farm and garden chain has announced, sort of.
Construction on the roughly 25,000-square-foot store, next door to Ocean State Job Lot, had been ongoing since July. The start of operations will be a soft opening, followed by a more widely advertised four-day grand opening from Oct. 18-21, a spokeswoman for the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company said. The only announcement of tomorrow’s opening is
an inconspicuous sign in the window.
The opening marks the complete recommissioning of the former Wal-Mart store, which had been vacant since 2011. The parcel, including some 18 acres of land, was purchased by OSJL last fall.
The North Kingstown-based discount chain renovated some 36,000 square feet at the site – roughly half of the total space in the old Wal-Mart – and has been operating there since March. A privately-held, family-run opera- tion with 131 stores in New England, New York and New Jersey, OSJL closed another store across the street shortly before the move.
The Tractor Supply store is the sixth in the region that serves as a shopping center co-anchor for the Job Lot chain.
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt hailed the arrival of Tractor Supply as evidence of the resurgence of the Diamond Hill Road retail strip.
“Diamond Hill Road has experienced considerable dislocation over the past decade,” she said. “The troubles our retail sector has experienced are like those felt by numerous communi- ties throughout the Nation. The Tractor Supply Co. announcement provides continued evidence that the Diamond Hill Road retail area is being repopulated by retailers that offer staying power in the market.”
With its motto, “For Life Out Here,” Tractor Supply carries some of the same merchandise for homes and gardens that one might find at do-it-yourselfer warehouse stores, but the stock includes a range of goods geared for a more rugged lifestyle, including homesteaders, farmers and animal lovers. Work clothes, boots, sprinkler and irrigation parts, power tools, fencing materi- als, welding and pump supplies, chicken and livestock feed, are among the items on the shelves of Tractor Supply.
The city store will also include a pet washing station where customers will have access to professional grade wash bays, grooming tables and tools, the company says.
Tractor Supply was founded 80 years ago as a mail order tractor parts business and now operates more than 1,700 stores in 49 states. The other Rhode Island stores are in Johnston, Coventry and Kingstown.
Tractor Supply will employ about 15 full- and parttime workers who are expe- rienced in caring for pets, livestock and land, the company says.
“At Tractor Supply community is at our core and we understand the value of building a team with local roots,” said Ron Gant, the manager of the new store. A veteran of both the 4H Club and the Future Farmers of America, Gant said, “Our Woonsocket Team members live the rural lifestyle just like our customers and serve as a resource to equip them with the products and seasoned advice they need for ‘Life Out Here.’”