Iowa-based Bomgaars becomes No. 2 U.S. farm retailer with acquisition of 73 stores
The Sioux City-based Bomgaars farm store chain will become the nation's second-largest farm and ranch retailer after acquiring 73 Orscheln Farm and Home stores, the company announced in a news release.
Bomgaars said in the Wednesday release that the acquisition will give it 180 total stores in 15 states and add 1,400 employees. It said it also will acquire a 330,000-square-foot distribution center in Moberly, Missouri, the headquarters of the Orscheln chain.
Only Tractor Supply Co., which also is acquiring some of the Orscheln stores, has more locations.
Bomgaars spokesperson Heather Korbe said the Orscheln stores eventually will be rebranded as Bomgaars.
"Obviously, it's not going to happen overnight, but ultimately they will be rolled under the Bomgaars umbrella," Korbe said.
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With acquisition, Bomgaars expanding to seven more states
Bomgaars currently has stores across the western half of Iowa and in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. With the newly acquired stores, it will expand to states including Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as to Fairfield and Ottumwa in eastern Iowa, according to a Tractor Supply Co. news release.
The release said Tractor Supply, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, had previously announced it would be buying the 166-store Orscheln chain. But to preserve competition and receive clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for the $320 million deal, the 2,000-plus-store Tractor Supply chain had to divest of the stores Bomgaars is acquiring and another 12 being purchased by the Missouri-based Bucheit Corp. farm stores.
Purchase price of Orscheln stores undisclosed
Bomgaars, which is family owned, did not disclose how much it is paying for the stores. In Bomgaars' news release, CEO Torrey Wingert called the transaction "very complex" and said it had been negotiated for a year and a half.
"While the federal approval process was at times equally exhausting and frustrating, our team and the Bomgaars family remained steadfast in their determination to complete this acquisition, and this collective commitment to do so was a big part in ensuring this deal was successfully concluded,” the release quoted Wingert as saying.
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"I am grateful to our executive team for their persistence in seeing this deal through to its ultimate and successful conclusion," company owner Roger Bomgaars said in the release. "Our family is proud of our organization, each of our approximately 3,300 current employees, and the difference we make for our farm and ranch clients and customers every single day.”
Bomgaars and wife Jane travel to visit their stores each spring and are "excited to include their 73 new locations" in plans for their annual "road trip," the release said.
91-year-old business has seen most of its expansion since 2001
Nearly 80-year-old business has seen most of its expansion since 2001
According to its website, the 3,000-employee Bomgaars chain grew out of a traveling sales business founded by William H. Bomgaars in Middleburg, a tiny, unincorporated community in northwest Iowa's Sioux County. Shifting its headquarters to Sioux City in 1944, the company in 1956 opened its first branch store in Yankton, South Dakota.
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Most of Bomgaars' growth, however, has occurred since 2001, when it had just 15 stores. It has locations in Des Moines and Grimes in the metro as well as in Winterset. It also has a location in Boone.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa's Bomgaars to be No. 2 farm supply chain after adding 73 stores
