True to its word, the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TNC) has entered the “rural lifestyles” or “hobby farm” market, opening a new concept store, Stockdale’s America’s Rural Outfitter, in Hixson, near Chattanooga, Tenn., in late 2006. TFC CEO Bart Krisle had earlier said that TFC was losing this market to competitors and dealing with a declining traditional farm market (GM Feb. 20, 2006, p. 10).
The first store, which has 47,000 square feet in its showroom, includes apparel, footwear, tools, horse and pet supplies, livestock equipment, feed, lawn and garden items, outdoor furniture, and more. TFC plans to place the stores in areas where it will not compete with a local co-op, but rather complement it. The first site was chosen because there is not a TNC presence in Hamilton County. The next Stockdale’s is expected to open in the spring in Covington, Tenn., in cooperation with the Tipton Farmers Cooperative. The local co-op is moving to a new facility outside of town, and the Stockdale’s will be located in a renovated existing facility.
In other news, TFC recently announced that it achieved a record half-billion in revenues for the year ending July 31, 2006. Net margins were $6.1 million on sales of $521.6 million, versus the prior year’s $5.9 million and $481.6 million. Total member rebates for the 06 period were $8.5 million, up from 05’s $5 million. There were fertilizer rebates of $3.9 in 2006, with none listed in 2005.
TFC said that despite higher fertilizer prices and fewer corn acres, its fertilizer department saw only a modest decrease in volumes and continued to be profitable in 2006.
A high point for the fertilizer department during the year was the installation of a state-of-the-art fertilizer blending system at Poplar Corner in West Tennessee.