WILTON – Tractor Supply Company, one of the largest retail chains in the U.S., wants to build a store here. If all goes according to plan, the store may open as soon as this fall and employ 12 to 15 people.
DMK Development of Muskegon, Michigan, submitted plans today for a 19,097 square foot store with an adjacent 15,000 square foot outdoor display area and a 95-space parking lot to be constructed on a 4.4 acre parcel with frontage on the south side of Route 2 across from the Bryant Road T-intersection.
Oak Engineers of Portland, on behalf of DMK Development will present the building plans to the planning board at the May 7 meeting. A pre-application to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection has already been submitted.
Tractor Supply Company operates more than 800 stores in 40 states and carries feed, fencing, mowers, tools, work clothing and more for farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners and contractors, according to its Web site.
According to the developers, a store this size will employ between five and seven full-time employees and seven to eight part-time employees. Hours are 8-8 Monday-Saturday and 8 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
The plan calls for a 28-foot wide access road just west of the building’s site. Tractor Supply Company stores in Maine have been opened in Oxford, Augusta, Gorham and Skowhegan. Once all the building permits are approved, a possible construction date may be in late summer with a possible opening in the fall, said Keith Gray of Oak Engineers.
Based in Brentwood, Tenn., Tractor Supply is a public company whose stock is traded on The NASDAQ National Market under the symbol TSCO.
Who doesn’t want a new box store? I’m glad to see Wilton developing its section of the route 2 corridor because god knows they could use the any increase in tax revenue. What’s disappointing about seeing another chain on the Wilton road is that while it will provide some jobs possibly increase traffic the bringing of another big box benifits TSC far more than the town of Wilton. Wilton needs careers not jobs. A job at any large retailer amounts to a starvation wage. I’m not trying to demonize TSC just the business model all large national retailers use. At the end of the day any profits will go out of state leaving the town and its residents with only crumbs to pick through.