Fleet Farm

Stewart C. Mills Sr. founded Mills Companies in Brainerd, Minnesota in 1922. The family later created an oil company and opened a dealership and auto parts stores. Fleet Farm was founded in 1955 by Stewart Mills Sr. and his sons Henry Mills II and Stewart Mills Jr. The first store, named Fleet Wholesale Supply, was opened in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Similarly named Blain's Farm and Fleet was also founded in 1955 by Bert and Claude Blain, friends of the Mills family. The two families agreed to use similar names and have historically operated in different territories.

Since 2000, most locations that have opened feature a signature orange-roofed silo on the storefront.

In 2016, Mills Fleet Farm was sold to KKR.

As of July 2018, the "Mills" part of the name has been dropped, shortening the name to "Fleet Farm," however many stores still carry the "Mills" name on their signs. In addition, Fleet Farm launched a new brand campaign and added the tagline “Built for real life”, replacing the slogan "We Love It" which debuted in 2009. In September 2025 Fleet Farm celebrated its 70th Anniversary.

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,

Straw Purchase Gun Sales Lawsuit

In October 2022, the Minnesota Attorney General's office filed suit against Fleet Farm after a straw-purchased gun was used in a St. Paul bar shootout that injured more than a dozen people and killed a bystander. The lawsuit alleged Fleet Farm sold 37 firearms to two people over 16 months. The company agreed to pay one million dollars, improve corporate-wide employee training, use software to track gun sales and alert employees about sales to people previously linked to guns used in crimes.