WINDHAM – Over the last few months, the new Tractor Supply Co. store in Windham has been rapidly rising from a previously unused level parcel north of the rotary on Route 302.
One of a dozen new Tractor Supply locations in Maine, the Windham store is considered a medium box, coming in at just under 30,000 square feet. It will offer similar products to those found at nearby stores, namely grain, birdseed, and small-scale farm, lawn and garden equipment and Carhartt clothing.
Businesses in the area, including Hall Implement, nearby at the rotary, and Blue Seal Feeds & Needs in South Windham, say they aren’t fazed by the addition of a new competitor. In fact, they hope that it will generate new traffic, possibly by diverting shoppers from busy North Windham to the commercial strip forming above the rotary.
However, the arrival of the new store has also upset those in the area who believe the building is stretching the North Windham shopping district further south.
“It’s zoned C-3, so you can’t stop development, and I don’t want to stop development,” said nearby resident Priscilla Payne, who attended public hearings earlier this year on the proposed development. “But it just doesn’t look good, and it’s not very welcoming for motorists coming into Windham.”
Payne’s concern of a spreading business district is not new. One look at the surrounding properties from the rotary to Varney Mill Road will yield many more businesses than residences, and with Tractor Supply comes a new kind of construction – a “medium-box” store – that signals to Payne and others the possibility of similar developments in the future.
But for retail businesses in the area, even direct competitors, the look of Tractor Supply isn’t a concern. They’re just happy to see some economic activity, especially as the area resurrects itself from the recession of the last few years, which according to recent statewide data has hit Windham just as hard, if not harder, than other Maine towns.
Feedback
Steve Hall, of Hall Implement, which is celebrating 50 years in business at the rotary, said the family-owned company, which spotlights John Deere products for both commercial and consumer uses, welcomes the competition.
“Any business in town is welcome. You can’t knock a business that creates more money for the tax base,” Hall said. “And wherever you go you’ve got competition. And to me, competition is healthy. We have our customers and I’m sure they’ll have theirs. I’m sure people won’t stop dealing with us because someone else moves into town.”
In previous managerial positions, Jamas Gibbons, store manager for Blue Seal, has dealt with competitors moving close to his location and offering similar products. Gibbons isn’t scared of Tractor Supply, and is already preparing for its arrival.
“I’ve been through it before, so I’ve seen it,” Gibbons said. “There’s basically a six-month honeymoon period and then things turn back around due to our customer service and brand loyalty.”
Tractor Supply is intending to open in March of next year, during what is Blue Seal’s busiest season as gardeners ramp up for the spring planting season. Gibbons said Tractor Supply carries Blue Seal birdseed and animal feed in certain locations but won’t in Windham. However, the new store will offer a similar line of yard and hobby farm products, so Blue Seal is ready to do what it takes to keep their customers, he said.
“We’ll have to sharpen our pencils on a couple products, but we’ll price match to a certain extent,” Gibbons said.
According to Kevin Reilley, president of Benchmark Construction, the Westbrook-based company that has overseen all Tractor Supply projects in the state, the Windham store is taking shape quickly, with contractors having nearly completed the outside of the 29,000-plus-square foot store.
Working since August on a fast-track schedule to get exterior work done by the time winter sets in, subcontractors are actually ahead of schedule, with the building constructed and all paving, striping and landscaping installed. Interior work remains, and Reilley expects all work to be complete by January or February, when hiring and employee training will begin.
While most neighbors of the Route 302 location, many of whom are either large or small business owners, are enthusiastic about Tractor Supply coming, a direct abutter had issues with the company removing trees along the northern property line. Reilley said a last-minute addition of a fence was made last week, and an additional fence was constructed in front of the homeowner’s property facing Route 302.
“Good fences make good neighbors,” Reilley said. “The property line was very close, closer than they were aware, so we ended up trying to do something for them to minimize the impact.”
Another neighbor, David Pluff, who resides directly across from the new store, is thankful for Tractor Supply since he now has better access to his driveway off busy Route 302.
“By them putting in a turning lane, it’ll help me get into my driveway,” Pluff said.
Pluff, an appliance repairman who has lived in his house since 1971, long before Route 302 was a major thoroughfare, also likes that Tractor Supply had to install a new fire hydrant at the roadway, even though one is located nearly across the street.
“That’s just more fire protection for me,” Pluff said.
Since the site is zoned C-3, there are already numerous businesses located in the strip. Direct abutters Lee’s Family Trailer Sales & Service welcomes their new neighbor.
“It’s definitely going to draw more traffic to the area, so I see it as a positive thing,” Sheri Huff, co-owner and general manager, said. “It’ll bring people in from different areas that might not have come.”
Wayne Berzinis, owner of a nearby leach field products distribution company who in the off-season sells ice fishing equipment from his building, is likewise enthusiastic about Tractor Supply’s arrival on scene.
“The more business the better,” he said.
While she sells a different product than Huff or Berzinis, Enola Jacobsky of Collucci’s variety store at the rotary is happy to see the store taking shape.
“More business growth in this area will mean more customers, I’m hoping,” Jacobsky said.
Concessions
Though Tractor Supply boasts more than a 1,000 nationwide locations, with a few exceptions, most of the company’s buildings in Maine and New Hampshire are basic metal structures. Because Windham has adopted a set of design guidelines, the developers have added a few extras to the exterior of the Route 302 store to comply with those suggested requirements.
According to Benchmark’s Reilley, those improvements include enhanced landscaping, installation of a wrought-iron (rather than chain-link) fence surrounding an outdoor storage area, the use of composite clapboard siding in the front of the store, and a metal awning on the front of the building.
While the design guidelines aren’t mandatory, a subject that has been discussed within town government for half a decade now, the company voluntarily improved their building at an additional cost, said developer and site selector Chris Kettler, of DMK Development, based in Muskegon, Mich. Kettler said the design improvements cost more, and were done to resemble “New England-type construction.”
“We did work extensively with the town,” he said. “It’s definitely a different building, with add-ons and aesthetic differences. I can’t comment on how much it cost to make the upgrades, but it all factors in.”
Asked whether the request to design a special store for Windham was a potential deal breaker, Kettler said, “Windham as a whole was good to work with. They understood our limitations and there was a little give and take. But these requests didn’t increase the cost so much that it made it impossible to come to town.”
While Maine’s economy is on the rebound, with unemployment down to 7.3 percent as reported earlier this week, new jobs are always a welcome sign, and Kettler said the new store will likely employ 13-15 employees, half of whom will be full-time, with two salaried managerial positions.
That likelihood of local employment has Windham Economic Development Director Tom Bartell enthusiastic as well.
“I think it’s great companies are looking to invest in Windham. I think adding to our retail mix is always good, and anytime someone is willing to invest in Windham, we are more than happy to welcome them,” Bartell said.
Commercial center?
Up until the 1970s and ’80s, South Windham was the town’s main center of economic activity. The railroad fed businesses in the area, which likewise fed retail operations such as variety stores and barbershops. While Boody’s Store did thriving business in North Windham for decades, the construction of Shaw’s, the Windham Mall, the North Windham Shopping Center and finally Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s in the last 30 years have shifted the town’s commercial activity to North Windham.
However, with Tractor Supply joining a bevy of bustling businesses from Varney Mill Road to the rotary, the North Windham commercial center may be shifting, or at least extending, again. The change is a natural one, according to those watching Windham retail.
“It is definitely a change for that area,” Town Planner Brooks More said regarding the construction of a big box retail store near the rotary. “But there are businesses all along that section of Route 302, so it’s a natural progression.”
But the strip, which is zoned Farm Residential on the opposite side of the road from Tractor Supply with some areas recently designated C-3 – a move by the Town Council that was castigated by some as spot zoning – isn’t completely commercial, and includes several residences as well.
“There are more residences in that area, more trees, less-intense traffic, so it’s going to be a challenge how to enable commercial development while being cognizant of the character of the area,” More said.
That’s an issue Priscilla Payne is also concerned with, since she and others in her Cornerbrook neighborhood drive through the area daily. The former Cumberland resident said Windham should look to Falmouth and Scarborough, two towns she says have handled growth well by focusing it in one area of town and not allowing it to spread.
“It’s not just me,” she said. “I’ve had quite a few people tell me they’re concerned about development spreading from North Windham down this way. I’m not anti-business, but there are ways to do this right, and I’m not sure we’re doing it right.”
Lines on the parking lot of the new Tractor Supply in Windham
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