Tractor Supply opening in Sparta in next few months

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On March 4, 2022, Mayor Jeff Young announced the newest growth for the city of Sparta, and the announcement came as a surprise to many in the community.

“The city of Sparta is proud to announce that Tractor Supply Co. will be building a new store here in Sparta, on Miller’s Point Road, just off Highway 111,” Young said.

Young added that after months of negotiations, he received the call that the company would definitely be coming to Sparta.

“I’ve been trying to get them interested in Sparta for several years now, and, finally, a few months ago, we were able to meet in person to begin showing them several different potential locations,” Young said about the process of bringing the store to Sparta. “The more discussions we had, I could see that Tractor Supply Co. might be ready to make an investment in Sparta.”

The announcement came after the mayor played mediator between the company, their real estate developer, and the property owner, Mack Johnson, of Sparta, who owns 24.6 acres on Millers Point Road.

“I had no intention of selling just five acres to anyone for anything,” Johnson, who has owned the property since the early 1990s, said. “But Jeff convinced me to do it. He’s right. It will bring in great sales tax revenue for the city.”

According to Johnson, Young had multiple conversations with him, all of which were intended to convince Johnson that selling just a piece of the property would be the best thing for all parties, including the city.

“Jeff’s been after this for a while, and I wasn’t going to stand in his way,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that having known the mayor since childhood, he knew his interests were for the betterment of the city.

“I never actually intended to sell the property at all, but I let Jeff talk me into taking their offer,” Johnson said.

Keith Carter, with Reese Real Estate Development Partners, said Tractor Supply chose Sparta because they liked the demographics of the city and surrounding community.

“I love Sparta; it’s a great little community, and this was truly a handshake deal,” Carter said. “I’ve been doing work around the country, and it is nice to come back to that. I feel really good about the community here.”

Carter agreed with Johnson in saying if it hadn’t been for Mayor Young, this deal would never have happened.

“They mayor put this thing together. It truly wouldn’t have happened without him,” Carter said. “Jeff put us together and really worked hard for both sides. Mack didn’t want to sell, but Mayor Young stood in the middle and played mediator so that a deal could be reached.”

Carter said the plans for the building will soon be submitted to the city for approval, and the hope is they will be breaking ground in the next 30 to 45 days.

“Once the process is started, it will take approximately five months to build the store,” Carter said. “Tractor Supply will make another announcement at a later date with information about hiring and their plans for opening.”

For Young, he is happy he was able to help both parties reach an agreement and that the city of Sparta will be the beneficiary of the result.

Young said, “We are very excited to have a new Tractor Supply and wish them great success.”

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