They just opened a Tractor Supply Company in town

[Bill 55]

I used to frequent TSC until they opened a Rural King just down the street. Nearly everything is cheaper at Rural King, plus they open an hour earlier than TSC. I get off work at 0700 and can change clothes , and be at Rural King by 0715. Beats hanging around until 0815 when TSC opens.
Bill

 

[Turbys_1700]

Tractor Supply around here does not really have any direct competition in the farm retail store area. We have Lowes, Home Depot, Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, etc... to contend with. I do buy lots of bolts and nuts by the pound in addition to hydraulic fluid when on sale. They have invested in lots of clothing and boots lately but their prices are not competitive for what you get IMHO.

 

[weldingisfun]

Watch what they keep in stock. They do advertise brand names that they do not stock. Be sure to check before they load from the yard. This primarily applies to fencing. If they do that with fencing I am sure they do it with other products. Ditto on all the other comments. Management is the key, one of the two local stores recently underwent a management change, thank goodness. The other store is a good one. If you own horses and dogs, this is your store. One last thing, call to see if it is in stock before you go to buy. Saves a lot of frustration.

 

[rtimgray]

We had a small TSC open a year or so ago and I'm a fan of it. As many others have said, it has some good and some bad. I like the nuts/bolts by the pound and I usually get my dog and cat food there - basically, the only other choice is Wal-mart and it's way easier for me to get in and get out of TSC, and the price is pretty much the same.

I get an assortment of items - lubricants, oils, lawn mower parts, gloves, hay twine, etc. etc. The folks that work there are pretty friendly and usually know if they have something or not. Ours is the smallest TSC that I have been in - the town only has about 6,000 people in it, so I'm just thankful that we have a TSC at all.

Good luck and take care.

 

[aczlan]

All-In-All TSC is a pretty good store. It may not carry the biggest, baddest or best of some things but you can generally find what you need. They also run some good specials and I've snapped up a few awesome deals. Our local TSC saves me a 1 hour drive to the nearest competitor.

We have a couple of Tractor Supply stores nearby, but if I need PTO parts, I will head over to the local Runnings store. They are $10-30 cheaper (per part) for the same parts (same brand, same part number, etc).

Yes TSC has bolts/nuts by the # but no Grade 8.

Interesting, around here they have Grade ?, Grade 5 and Grade 8 for most sizes of bolts.

Aaron Z

 

[oldpilgrim]

Yes TSC has bolts/nuts by the # but no Grade 8.

all the TSC stores around here have them.

 

[EddieWalker]

I buy quite a bit from TSC from parts to feed. My local store always seems to have clothing on sale. Sign up for their mailing list and you will get 10% off entire purchase coupons in the mail. They also give volume discounts for some items. I buy shavings by the pallet load, 45 bags, and get the 5% discount. It's even better when they go on sale for $1 off a bag. They split it into two pallets for me so they are easier to move with the FEL and pallet forks.

TSC Volume Discount

Randy,

Have you been to Atwoods? When they first opened up in Tyler, I went back and forth comparing prices between the two stores and Atwoods is always a lot cheaper. I've never bought in bulk from TSC, but have found some great deals when they have something on sale, but it's hit or miss with them. I honestly wonder how they stay in business with Atwoods to compete with.

Having said that, I bought an auger from Atwoods that worked fine, but nothing special. After replacing the cutting tips repeatedly while trying to drill through the grey colored clay on my land, I finally gave up and bought the Countryline auger from TSC for about the same price I paid at Atwoods. It's night and day better. It drilled through that hard packed grey layer of clay so fast that I kept burying the bit in the ground and had to use my backhoe to pull it back out!!!!!

When installing my electric fence, I compared prices there with Atwoods and was shocked at how much higher they where with less selection. They didn't even carry the insulators I needed to attach the wire to wood posts. Atwoods had more selection for less price. But to be honest, I ended up buying the insulators online from Kenco, which was even cheaper

Eddie

 

[Dr_Zinj]

TSC had the chainsaw chains for my saw that Lowes, Sears, Home Depot, and the place that actually sold me the saw years ago don't carry.

 

[oldpilgrim]

yup, I get my chainsaw bars, chains and oil from TSC.

come to think of it I've spent thousands there. I got my cub cadet mower, grass trimmer, and log splitter there. Many hydro hoses/fittings, batteries. welding wire/rod, 3 pt stuff, tarps, tie downs, wood stove, oil, and lots of other misc stuff.

 

[WM75Guy]

Eddie,

I went to Atwood's old location several times when I was in Tyler. It's about 80 miles round trip to their new location and the new location is not real convenient for me. Most of the time I compare prices from TSC to McCoy's or the NE Texas Farmer's Co-op in Canton for fencing and gates.

I like TSC's website except for checking availability in the store. It always says to call the store. The Athens TSC inventory is hit or miss. When I call and they tell me it's in stock I always asked them to go lay eyes on it. Often when the computer says it's in stock it's really not. When I ask them why they don't raise PAR levels on frequently out of stock items they tell me the store does not control inventory numbers.