Tractor store coming to Carpentersville

An empty store in Carpentersville that once housed a big discount retailer could soon be home to a large farm and ranch supplier.

Village officials and a local developer say the Tractor Supply Co. is planning to occupy a 38,250-square-foot store on the outskirts of the Meadowdale Shopping Center.

Big Lots vacated the store in January 2007.

Village Manager Craig Anderson said the retailer is expected to receive special use permits and variances for its outdoor storage area from the village's planning and zoning commission at its Thursday, Dec. 4, meeting.

"This has been a long time in the making," Anderson said. "We started working on this a year-and-a-half ago."

Frank Scarpelli, property manager for Besinger Properties, which owns the building and surrounding shopping center along Route 25, said the Carpentersville store is part of the company's expansion into the Northwest suburbs. Another store is proposed in Harvard.

"The reason they picked Carpentersville is because they are trying to attract the Barrington Hills horsemen that have small stable areas," Scarpelli said. "They sell a lot of things that people who board their own horses or pets would use, like pet feed and animal feed. They also sell outdoor clothing, boots and shoes."

The Tractor Supply Co.'s Web site says the company is the largest retail farm and ranch chain store in the country with more than 800 stores in 40 states. The retailer's revenues surpass $2 billion.

The Brentwood, Tenn.-based company was founded in 1938 as a mail order company.