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The story
In 1938, Charles Schmidt founded Tractor Supply Company in Chicago as a mail-order business that sold tractor parts. The first retail store was founded in 1939 in Minot, North Dakota. From 1941 to 1946, the company opened stores in Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa.
On January 14, 1959, Tractor Supply became publicly traded on the over-the-counter market and reached $10 million in sales. The company was later traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1967, TSC opened its first international stores in Canada. Two years later, Schmidt sold his controlling interest in the company to National Industries. This and other factors, such as changing executive leadership and adding inventory that strayed from its traditional categories, led to a few years of losses for the company.
From that point onward, the Canadian stores were now completely separate from the US Tractor Supply Company and were 100% Canadian-owned. The licensing agreement allowed them to keep using TSC, but not "Tractor Supply Company."
In 1979, the company moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1982, Tractor Supply put ownership of the company back in the hands of executives and returned to their farm-store niche, resulting in a break-even year. The company was re-incorporated in Delaware the same year.
On February 17, 1994, the company's stock was listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol TSCO.
Tractor Supply expanded to serve hobbyist farmers, such as families living in the suburbs with an interest in gardening and livestock. In 2002, the company earned $1.21 billion.
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Two years later in 2004, the company reported revenues of more than $1.7 billion and Fortune magazine named Tractor Supply to its list of the 100 fastest growing businesses. That year, Tractor Supply moved its headquarters to Brentwood, Tennessee. Jim Wright served as the CEO from 2004 to 2013. He was replaced by Gregory Sandfort.
In 2014, Tractor Supply made it on the Fortune 500 list. On March 31, 2018, the company opened its 1700th store. On September 4, 2018, the company celebrated its 80th anniversary by ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in New York.
TSC's 1,900th store opened in September 2020. By December, the company had 1,923 stores in 49 states. By October 2021, there were 1,967 stores in 49 states. Hal Lawton became CEO in 2020. That year, the company received a Great Place to Work certification.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tractor Supply was deemed an essential business and remained open. The company saw revenue grow 27 percent as more people turned to gardening and pet and livestock ownership. That year, it also established the Tractor Supply Company Foundation.
In 2021, Tractor Supply reached #291 on the Fortune 500 list and had over 20 million members in its loyalty program, Neighbor's Club. TSC is the largest retail ranch and farm store operator in the U.S.
On Oct 11, 2022, Tractor Supply received clearance from the FTC to close on its acquisition of Orscheln Farm & Home. In order to mitigate federal anti-trust concerns, Tractor Supply sold 73 Orscheln stores and the Orscheln distribution center in Moberly, Missouri, to Bomgaars; 12 stores were sold to Missouri-based farm store chain Buchheit.
As of late 2024, Tractor Supply had 2,216 locations with a target of 3,000. The target number of locations increased by 200 from the previous year.
In September 2025, Tractor Supply agreed to a $1.35 million settlement with the California Privacy Protection Agency over alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act related to privacy notices, service-provider contracts, and opt-out mechanisms.
From Wikipedia’s article on Tractor Supply Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8