Rural King | |
Company type | Private |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1960Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. |
Founder |
|
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 135 (2024) |
Area served | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia |
Key people | Steve Barbarick President and CEO |
Products | Clothing and accessories, equine and pet supplies, live chicks and rabbits, hunting equipment and supplies, firearms and ammunition, tractor/trailer parts and accessories, lawn and garden supplies, sprinkler/irrigation parts, power tools, fencing, welding and pump supplies, riding mowers |
Revenue | US$ 1.5 billion (2022) |
Owner | Alex Melvin |
Number of employees | 6,400 (2021) |
Website | ruralking.com |
Rural King Supply is a farm supply store based in Mattoon, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1960, as of 2024 the chain has 135 stores in the U.S. states of Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Alabama. [1] The company also operates an online store, [2] as well as offering an online gun store. [3]
On June 5, 1960, Kermit Speer and Keith Beaird founded Rural King Supply in Mattoon. [4] The original store was started in a former implement building of 7,200 square feet. [5]
The company started with two employees, besides the owners. In 1963, an addition to the main building was added. In 1966, a warehouse was built, and in 1970, a second addition was added to the store.
A new building was finished and opened in September 1976. In 1999, a new store, warehouse and corporate office consisting of 210,000 square feet was opened across the highway from the old store. The old store and warehouse were donated to the Catholic Charities.
In 2003, a 94,000-square-foot addition was added to the warehouse. In 2007, another 96,000 square feet were added to the warehouse. In 2010, a third warehouse expansion was started that will add 104,000 square feet.
In 1962, Speer and Beaird opened another store in Paris, Illinois, in an old packing house with eight rooms. In 1970, land was purchased across from the Edgar County Fairgrounds and the new Paris Rural King was constructed. In 2001, that building was torn down and the current 55,000-square-foot Paris Rural King was built. Paris was Kermit and Pat Speer's home for 15 years.
The Vandalia, Illinois, Rural King was opened in 1966 in an old building on U.S. Highway 40 East. A new Rural King was built in November 1973 on Van Tran Avenue, which has been renamed Veterans Avenue. An addition to that building was completed in 1983.
In 1979, Gary Melvin, nephew of Kermit Speer, purchased an interest in Rural King. Gary began his career working in the store, learning the products and serving customers.
Bruce Speer, nephew of Kermit Speer, purchased an interest in Rural King in 1982, with the opening of the Litchfield, Ill., store. Bruce began his career as the manager of the Litchfield store. In 1985, he and his family moved to Terre Haute, Ind., where he opened and managed that store for five years. In 1990, Bruce moved to the Mattoon corporate office to help with purchasing and expansion of the Rural King stores. [6]
In December 2015 Rural King announced they had reached, for the first time, $1 billion in total sales. [7]
In 2017, Rural King purchased the Cross County Mall in Mattoon, Illinois. In July 2018, Rural King finalized their plans for the mall and decided to move the Mattoon Rural King store location into the former Sears space to drive more traffic to the mall and other businesses in the area. The location opened January 16, 2019. The previous facility, located at 4216 Dewitt Avenue, will continue to serve as a distribution center, and the headquarters will be expanded into the current Rural King store space.
Rural King sells work clothing and work boots, equine and pet supplies, live chicks and rabbits, hunting equipment and supplies, firearms and ammunition, tractor/trailer parts and accessories, lawn and garden supplies, sprinkler/irrigation parts, power tools, fencing, welding and pump supplies, riding mowers, agricultural chemicals and many other farm and home supplies. Rural King also sells toys, especially around the holidays. [8] One of Rural King's notable sales tactics is offering free coffee and popcorn to customers inside their stores.
Staten Island Mall is a shopping mall in New Springville, Staten Island, New York City, opened in 1973. It is the only indoor shopping mall in the borough. It is the largest retail center on the island and is the site of the island's third-largest public transit hub after the St. George Terminal and Eltingville Transit Center, with numerous bus routes that connect to the periphery of the mall area. It is the second largest shopping center in New York City. The mall features Primark, JCPenney, and Macy's, in addition to an 11-screen dine-in AMC Theatres.
Claire's is an American retailer of accessories, jewelry, and toys primarily aimed toward tween and teen girls. It was founded in 1961 and is based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The company is primarily owned by Elliott Management and Monarch Alternative Capital, but, in 2022, announced plans to go public with an initial public offering.
Eagle Food Centers was a chain of supermarkets that operated in Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois for several years. The company was based in Milan, Illinois. The company operated stores under many names, including BOGO'S, Eagle Country Market, Eagle Discount Centers, Eagle Discount Supermarkets, Eagle Food Centers, May's Drug and MEMCO. Eagle also operated stores in Houston known as Eagle Supermarkets until March 1985. The chain held a 6% market share and had 1,100 employees before leaving the area.
SouthPark Mall is a shopping mall located in Moline, Illinois. As Moline is part of the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa, the mall serves the population of these cities. The mall is located southwest of the intersection of Interstate 74 and Illinois Route 5 at 4500 16th Street. SouthPark Mall is one of two regional malls in the Quad Cities area, the other being NorthPark Mall in Davenport, Iowa.
A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.
Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. At the time of their demise they operated 47 Proffitts & McRae's stores.
L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fashions, the Tea Room, holiday events and displays, and the basement budget store. As urban populations shifted to the suburbs, Ayres established branch stores in new shopping centers in several Indiana cities. Ayres also acquired retail subsidiaries in Springfield, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky. Ayr-Way, the Ayres discount store subsidiary, became the first discount store launched by a full-line department store. By the end of the 1960s Ayres had become a diversified merchandising business with retail department stores, a chain of discount stores, specialty clothing stores, a home furnishings showroom, and a real estate holding company. A long-time Ayres slogan, "That Ayres Look", promoted the company as a fashion leader, and by 1972 it had become the oldest continuous retail slogan in the United States.
King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc., is an American supermarket chain based in Hauppauge, New York. Founded by Michael J. Cullen on August 4, 1930, the company operated 27 locations across Long Island as of 2021.
Circle Centre Mall is an indoor shopping mall located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Circle Centre Mall was opened to the public on September 8, 1995, and incorporates existing downtown structures such as the former L. S. Ayres flagship store. The mall is anchored by Regal Cinemas and the offices for The Indianapolis Star. The space occupied by former anchor Carson Pirie Scott is vacant.
The May Company Ohio was a chain of department stores that was based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
Franklin Park Mall is a shopping mall in Toledo, Ohio. The anchor stores are Dillard's, Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Forever 21, DSW, and JCPenney.
Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company (AM&A's) was a chain of department stores based in Buffalo, New York. It was an institution to generations of shoppers in the Buffalo area. The company remained family owned until its sale to The Bon-Ton in 1995.
WestGate Mall is a shopping mall in Spartanburg, South Carolina, off Interstate 26 and US Highway 29 on West Blackstock Road in the city's primary shopping market. The regional mall has 954,302 square feet (88,657.6 m2) of retail space and four anchor stores: Belk, Costco, Dillard's, and JCPenney.
White Oaks Mall is a shopping mall in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 4 and Wabash Avenue. With 928,772 square feet (86,285.7 m2) of retail space, it is the largest shopping mall in Central Illinois. The mall's anchor stores are Macy's, Michaels, LA Fitness, and Dick's Sporting Goods. There are 2 vacant anchor stores that were once Bergner's and Sears.
Lasalle & Koch Co. or Lasalle's was a department store in Toledo, Ohio, with branches in some nearby communities.
Eisner Food Stores was a chain of supermarkets in Illinois and Indiana. It was acquired by The Jewel Companies, Inc. in 1957. The Eisner stores were rebranded as Jewel in 1985.
Cross County Mall is a shopping mall in Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. It was opened in 1971 with JCPenney, G. C. Murphy, IGA, Arlan's, and Myers Brothers, with Sears joining in 1972. Following the closure of Arlan's in 1973, the space became Kmart one year later. G. C. Murphy became Meis, Elder-Beerman, and then Carson's, while Kmart moved out of the mall in 1993 and became a larger Sears store. The Sears closed in 2014 and became a Rural King in 2019. Following the closures of Carson's and JCPenney in 2018 and 2020 respectively, the mall's anchors are Rural King, Marshalls, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and Dunham's Sports. Rural King also owns the mall.
CenterMark, formerly known as May Centers, was a mall development company owned by a consortium of Westfield Holdings Ltd., General Growth Properties, and Whitehall Street Real Estate L.P. III. And it was formerly owned by The May Department Stores Company until 1992, and Prudential Insurance until 1993.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
Edens Plaza is a strip mall in the town of Wilmette, Illinois. It was built by Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (Carson's) in 1956, and, until 2018, was anchored by one of their stores. It is located on a triangular parcel of land between Lake Avenue, Skokie Boulevard and the Edens Expressway.