South Heidelberg store aims for family-farmer-horse-lover-homestead-DIY-rural-lifestyle niche

by Steve Reinbrecht

An unusual, to me, big-box chain store has opened in an old supermarket in a strip mall on Route 422 in South Heidelberg Township.

I didn’t ever visit Tractor Supply Company since it opened July 23 because I don’t have a tractor. 

But thinking about economic development in the area led me to look inside on Black Friday. The company says it has 1,500 stores across the country, but I have never seen one quite like it.

Out of beet-pulp horse treats? Get a 40-pound bag off the shelf.

Aisles are full of all kinds of tools and fasteners, so close to home. I hate driving through Sinking Spring to Lowe’s in the middle of a project.

Country music over speakers and country music for sale.

Big signs say things like “Clothing & Boots,” “Welding & Tools,” Truck &Trailer.”

Log splitters to fit any budget. Propane heaters, small to barn-size. Gun-cleaning kits. Generators. Bits and bridles. Fencing. Animal traps. Truck tool boxes. All sorts of tires and wheels, for carts, trailers, tractors, wheelbarrows ….

Hydraulic hoses. Everything you need to erect an electric fence. Pig food, and the feed bins to slop it into. “Young Rider” and “Modern Farmer” magazines. Gourmet dog food. Racks of clothes, with displays of camouflage and overalls.

One shopper told me she had been going to Myerstown for supplies she can now find here.

A man walking out the door with a roll of wire screening under his arm said he lives nearby and has shopped there many times since it opened.

“For things you can’t get at other places, like this.”

The manager said she was not permitted to answer any of my questions, not even, “How’s business?” or “What can I get here that I can’t get at Lowe’s?” She called HQ on my behalf and found out that I must not even take photos.

The company, based in Brentwood, Tenn., spent $500,000 on turning the former Shurfine supermarket, which closed in 2013, into the big-box chain store, according to a building permit filed with the township April 12.

In a boilerplate news release, TSC said it chose the spot at 4750 Penn Ave. just west of Sinking Spring because there are so many horse farms and family farms in the area. It said the store has 13 employees.

The website says it sells things to help people “maintain their farms, ranches, homes and animals,” citing “the ‘do it yourself’ trend.”