Purina Plans To Cultivate
"Ruralpolitan" Markets

FORT WORTH — According to a recent article in the Dallas Business Journal, Purina Mills Inc. plans to cultivate a growing market on the fringes of the suburbs with a new chain of food-and-supply stores.

The St. Louis-based manufacturer of animal nutrition products will open up to 10 America’s Country Stores in the Metroplex and surrounding areas like Sherman and Stephenville, said Doug Bamsch, Purina retail development manager. The first local store will open by March 1999.

The North Texas sites will be among the first for Purina’s year-old retail concept, which is expected to eventually surpass 400 stores nationwide. There are currently 15 America’s Country Stores in places like Amarillo, New Braunfels and Kalamazoo, Mich.

Purina is a leading provider of animal nutrition products for the commercial, companion animal, bird, wildlife, exotic, and zoo markets. The company was recently acquired by Koch Industries Inc., of Wichita, Kan., a $30 billion, privately held firm with interests in oil refining, petrochemicals and ranching.

"The cities have gotten so crowded that a growing number of people are looking for more space and what they perceive to be a better quality of life," Bamsch said. "There is a new ‘ruralpolitan’ market developing out there that is on the fringes of the suburbs and rural America."

Purina is among several fast-growing firms that have set their sights beyond suburbia to the expanding rural arena, which traditionally has been ignored by retailers, said professor Leonard Berry, director of the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University in College Station.

"Wal-Mart’s success has shown us that small markets can be good markets," Berry said. "The rural markets are growing, and people who live there still need to buy quality goods and services at good prices."

Purina’s stores target these former city dwellers by offering products that supplement their new country lifestyles, from animal food to feed, seed, tools, hardware, tack, and accessories, Bamsch said.

The focal point of the 5000 to 15,000 square-foot stores is an "information center" that helps educate customers about animal care, gardening, farming and store selections. There are also store sections that focus on horses, wild birds, companion animals and lawn and garden products, as well as drive-through for feed pickup.

Each store is owned by an independent operator, though Purina has trademarked the America’s Country Store name and is providing products, site selection, market research and store design.

It can also help finance the average $1.5 million price tag of a new store through its financial division, Purina A.G. Capital, Bamsch said.

Purina has established an office at its historic Fort Worth manufacturing plant to oversee its retail expansion in the southeastern United States, Bamsch said. Future Texas markets will include San Antonio, Waco and Conroe.

Currently, 30 independent dealers peddle Purina products in the Metroplex. Purina is scouting for sites between the cities and "ruralpolitan" areas that are convenient for customers to visit on their way home from work, Bamsch said. It’s also looking for additional store owners in the Metroplex.

Analysts say widespread recognition of the Purina name — combined with the rural market’s largely untapped potential — is most likely to help the chain get off the ground.

"There are a lot of nice tailwinds behind what (Purina) is trying to do," said Al Meyers, director of retail strategy at Senn-Delaney in Dallas, a division of Arthur Andersen L.L.P. "They already have an image as experts in country living, and they are very likely to be the only game in town."