Mills Fleet Farm/Blain's Farm & Fleet

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Two farm supply retail stores found in the Midwest.


=============================================================================





About Mills Fleet Farm:
Source: Wikipedia
Type: Family Owned
Industry: Retail
Founded: 1955 by the Mills family
Headquarters: Brainerd, Minnesota & Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
Products: Hunting and fishing equipment & licenses, small appliances, housewares, automotive goods, apparel, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies.
Website: www.fleetfarm.com

Mills Fleet Farm is a retail chain of 32 stores in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, with the newest location opened in August of 2012 in Carver, Minnesota.The stores range in size from small hardware- store- like formats such as the one in Clintonville, Wisconsin to the large stores which many are familiar with, such as the Brooklyn Park, Minnesota location and the Carver, Minnesota location. The chain also consists of a main distribution center with a buying/support office in Appleton, Wisconsin, a warehouse in Hudson, Wisconsin and an accounting office in Brainerd, Minnesota. The stores sell hunting and fishing equipment & licenses, small appliances, housewares, automotive goods, apparel, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies. Most locations also have a tire center, convenience store and car wash.

Mills Fleet Farm carries a variety of store brands in a variety of departments. These include:
Road Runner - Batteries and tires
Big Max - Trailers and automotive supplies
Field and Forest - Clothing and footwear
Fleet Boutique - Women's clothing
Dura-Built - Farm supplies
Milkhouse brand - Dairy supplies
Farm Life - Animal supplements
Sprout - Animal feed
Mills Fleet Farm - Candy and nuts
Farm Toys

Mills Fleet Farm is often nicknamed the "Man's Mall" by the local population and the garden supply department becomes "Toyland" during the Holiday season.

Mills Fleet Farm's slogan is "We Love It!"



====================================================================





About Blain's Farm & Fleet:
Source: Wikipedia
Type: Family Owned
Industry: Retail
Founded: 1955 by brothers W.C. (Claude) Blain and N.B. (Bert) Blain
Headquarters: Janesville, Wisconsin, USA
Products: Clothing, footwear, housewares, lawn & garden, farm equipment, automotive, sporting goods, hunting fishing, toys.
Website: www.farmandfleet.com

Blain's Farm & Fleet is a regional chain of 34 retail stores in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. The stores sell agricultural supplies and equipment, hunting and fishing equipment, appliances, houseware, automotive goods, apparel, household hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, candy, sporting goods, and tools.

The company was founded in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1955 by brothers W. C. (William Charles) Blain and N. B. (Bert) Blain. The stores are owned by separate companies in a franchise arrangement, while the distribution is handled by the separate entity, Blain Supply Company.[1] The Blain family still owns the business.

Blain's Farm and Fleet motto is: "The hardest working people in America find value at Farm and Fleet."

[JimSawhill]

Two farm supply retail stores found in the Midwest.


=============================================================================





About Mills Fleet Farm:
Source: Wikipedia
Type: Family Owned
Industry: Retail
Founded: 1955 by the Mills family
Headquarters: Brainerd, Minnesota & Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
Products: Hunting and fishing equipment & licenses, small appliances, housewares, automotive goods, apparel, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies.
Website: www.fleetfarm.com

Mills Fleet Farm is a retail chain of 32 stores in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, with the newest location opened in August of 2012 in Carver, Minnesota.The stores range in size from small hardware- store- like formats such as the one in Clintonville, Wisconsin to the large stores which many are familiar with, such as the Brooklyn Park, Minnesota location and the Carver, Minnesota location. The chain also consists of a main distribution center with a buying/support office in Appleton, Wisconsin, a warehouse in Hudson, Wisconsin and an accounting office in Brainerd, Minnesota. The stores sell hunting and fishing equipment & licenses, small appliances, housewares, automotive goods, apparel, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies. Most locations also have a tire center, convenience store and car wash.

Mills Fleet Farm carries a variety of store brands in a variety of departments. These include:
Road Runner - Batteries and tires
Big Max - Trailers and automotive supplies
Field and Forest - Clothing and footwear
Fleet Boutique - Women's clothing
Dura-Built - Farm supplies
Milkhouse brand - Dairy supplies
Farm Life - Animal supplements
Sprout - Animal feed
Mills Fleet Farm - Candy and nuts
Farm Toys

Mills Fleet Farm is often nicknamed the "Man's Mall" by the local population and the garden supply department becomes "Toyland" during the Holiday season.

Mills Fleet Farm's slogan is "We Love It!"



====================================================================





About Blain's Farm & Fleet:
Source: Wikipedia
Type: Family Owned
Industry: Retail
Founded: 1955 by brothers W.C. (Claude) Blain and N.B. (Bert) Blain
Headquarters: Janesville, Wisconsin, USA
Products: Clothing, footwear, housewares, lawn & garden, farm equipment, automotive, sporting goods, hunting fishing, toys.
Website: www.farmandfleet.com

Blain's Farm & Fleet is a regional chain of 34 retail stores in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. The stores sell agricultural supplies and equipment, hunting and fishing equipment, appliances, houseware, automotive goods, apparel, household hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, candy, sporting goods, and tools.

The company was founded in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1955 by brothers W. C. (William Charles) Blain and N. B. (Bert) Blain. The stores are owned by separate companies in a franchise arrangement, while the distribution is handled by the separate entity, Blain Supply Company.[1] The Blain family still owns the business.

Blain's Farm and Fleet motto is: "The hardest working people in America find value at Farm and Fleet."

Nice Stores...

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Mills Fleet Farm

Mills family to sell Fleet Farm chain of megastores

The company says it needs an infusion of capital to expand beyond its 36 Midwestern stores.


Mills Fleet Farm, the Brainerd-based chain of giant stores of farm, hunting and home supplies that dot small towns and suburbs in the Upper Midwest, is for sale.

Executives last week notified employees that they were looking for a buyer. They confirmed the sale to the Brainerd Dispatch, which reported it Thursday.

“In the last several years business has been extremely strong and that strength has been enhanced by very successful new store locations,” the company said in a statement. “To ensure the strength of business going forward, the company is in the process of bringing in an outside partner to work with and enhance the current management structure.”

The family-owned company started as Fleet Wholesale Supply in 1955 now employs more than 6,000 people in six Twin Cities metro stores and 35 stores throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Another store under construction in Hermantown will open next year.

Chief executive Stewart Mills III, grandson of the store’s founder, told the Brainerd Dispatch that it is more than likely that his family will leave the business after the sale, though the Mills name may remain with the stores.


“We have several interested parties, but we are sorting through those interested parties to make sure they are the best fit for us organizationally and also the best fit for our employees,” he told the Dispatch. “For the long term, this is what’s right for the business. This is what is right for our employees.”


Rob Kerber was happy with his bargain kayak as he and his wife, Jane Kerber, checked out during "Black Friday" shopping at Mills Fleet Farm in Oakdale in 2013.
More


Mills said the retailer needs deeper pockets to expand. Besides adding additional stores, the company’s warehouse and distribution network needs updating. Mills hopes the chain could begin adding three to four stores per year.

Mills, who ran unsuccessfully for Minnesota’s Eighth District congressional seat against incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan last year, told the Dispatch that the sale was not precipitated by his interest in politics. He said he hopes to engage in “very quiet philanthropy but also loud public service.”

Mills recently announced that he would run for Nolan’s congressional seat again in 2016.

The Mills Automotive group is not part of the sale.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Investment firm to acquire Mills Fleet Farm
By The Associated Press   

Brainerd, Minn. â€" Family-owned Mills Fleet Farm has agreed to sell to one of the country's largest investment firms based in New York.

KKR has holdings in various industries totaling about $100 billion. KKR retail executive Nate Taylor says while his company will acquire majority control of the stock, the Mills family will keep a small ownership stake in the 61-year-old Midwestern company. Taylor says the company will be operated independently of KKR's other retailers, which include US Foods.

Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed Tuesday.

Mills Fleet Farm operates 35 stores located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Its corporate office is in Brainerd.

The company was founded in 1955 by Stewart Mills Sr. along with his sons Henry Mills II and Stewart Mills Jr.

[TheFugitive]

The employees should count themselves lucky.

If they had been acquired by Tractor Supply Co. the management would have gone scorched-earth
on them.   Gotten rid of EVERYBODY to be replaced with "our own people".

That is their typical M.O.  Ask the former employees of Quality Farm and Fleet.