Among the top 10 companies on the 2012 Home Channel News Industry Scoreboard, none grew faster than Brentwood, Tenn.-based Tractor Supply. The farm-and-ranch lifestyle provider showed a 16.3% sales increase and an overall ranking of seventh on the Top 300 retailer list.

Rural King Supply of Mattoon, Ill., moved up the list from 25th to 22nd. Also moving up the rankings were Atwood Ranch & Home of Enid, Okla., and Bomgaars Supply of Sioux City, Iowa.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Tractor Supply has announced a management succession plan to take effect Jan. 1.

Jim Wright, who was named CEO of Tractor Supply in 2004 and who took on the additional role of chairman in 2007, will be replaced by Gregory Sandfort, currently the company’s chief operating officer.

An article in HCN Monday about the coach-only travel policy at Tractor Supply led to unanimous support for the coach class cabin for business trips.

“We have never flown first class unless we were bumped up. Never paid for it in 41 years.” — George A. Pattee Chairman and CEO Parksite

Tractor Supply has plans to build a 250,000-sq.-ft. new building outside Nashville, Tenn., approximately a half mile from where the retail chain currently has its headquarters, according to an article in the Nashville Business Journal. The cost of the project is estimated at $50 million.

Tractor Supply posted another strong quarter, with a 20% sales increase and 40% increase in net income. These are on top of record results last year.

How do they do it? It’s complicated. But one secret that emerged from the 1,000-plus location farm-and-ranch retailer’s fourth-quarter earnings call was the importance of resisting the temptation to stray from the categories that connect Tractor Supply to its customers.

The Consumer Watch section of the Dashboard shows gas prices holding steady at $3.29 per gallon of regular. On the Stock Roundup, Tractor Supply, Fastenal, Home Depot and Lowe's lead the field.

The Home Channel Stock Roundup shows stocks scattered across the board, with Tractor Supply and Fastenal showing the biggest annual gains.

Strong results in consumable categories, a little inflation and some Hurricane Irene-related sales fueled an 11.5% same-store sales increase and led to a strong overall third-quarter financial performance at Tractor Supply. 

Net income for the quarter was $42.7 million, up 42.8% from net income of $29.9 million in the third quarter of the prior year.

Third-quarter net sales increased 17.9% to $977.8 million from $829.1 million in the prior year's third quarter.

While attending a meeting with the Home Improvement Research Institute, a Home Channel News editor made a side trip to another important South Florida institution that could help us all better understand our industry.


This institution is called The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg. (Note to accounting: The $10 admission ticket and $3 parking are now officially “business related.”) And it does so by preparing us for the surreal in our world.


Roofers in two separate incidents in Sanford, N.C., were injured -- one fatally -- during reconstruction projects at the Tractor Supply and Lowe’s home improvement stores, according to the Fayetteville Observer and other media reports. 

Both stores are undergoing repairs after a tornado swept through town and caused major damage to the businesses on April 16.