RAYMONDVILLE — This rural community has apparently finally lured a national retailer catering to farms and ranches.
Two years after a first round of negotiations broke down, Tractor Supply is coming to town.
Tractor Supply is expected to hire about 15 full- and part-time employees when it opens off FM 3168, just east of the city’s Rural Technical Center, Mayor Gilbert Gonzales said yesterday.
Tractor Supply, a leading retailer of farm supplies, pet and animal feed, clothing, tools and fencing, has five locations in the Rio Grande Valley, with their closest stores in San Benito and Weslaco.
The company also operates stores in Mission, Edinburg and Rio Grande City.
“It’s great. It’s going to employ some people and that’s what it’s all about,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales said Willacy County residents also need a place to shop for their farms and ranches.
“We need it over here,” he said. “There are a lot of ranchers and a lot of farmers.”
Now, the city is selling four acres for about $80,000 to a developer who plans to lease the land to Tractor Supply, Gonzales said.
Gonzales said the developer has not announced when Tractor Supply could open.
In 2016, plans to bring a Tractor Supply store to Raymondville Plaza broke down after a developer failed to close a lease agreement, Gonzales said.
As part of that deal, the city offered Tractor Supply a $33,852 tax break aimed at reducing property tax payments over a five-year period.
This time, Tractor Supply has not approached the city for incentives, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said.
Tractor Supply would become the second national retailer to open here since Walmart closed its Supercenter in January 2016, laying off about 149 full- and part-time employees.
Later that year, CVS Pharmacy opened a store at the corner of Hidalgo Avenue and Seventh Street.
