BY MILES LAYTON
About that Tractor Supply Company sign over by the old Food Lion…
If you need new tires or automotive work done at Colony Tire, then you’ve probably seen that big wooden sign announcing that Tractor Supply is coming soon to that shopping complex on North Broad Street.
For folks that don’t know, Tractor Supply sells home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock stuff, pet care equipment, and supplies. The store is a breath of fresh air for farmers and other folks on so many different levels.
Albemarle Observer reached out late Friday to Town Hall for more information – but it being a sunny Friday afternoon when I sent that email – I don’t expect to hear anything until next week.
Saturday afternoon, spurred by a couple of our dedicated readers and my own curiosity, I made a call to the Edenton Chowan Partnership, where John Dowd serves as chairman.
Dowd referred me to Ches Chesson, Director of Main Street Edenton, a key figure in Edenton’s economic development.
Still, Dowd told me that Tractor Supply was interested in buying some property a ways back, but didn’t get anywhere, still the company remained interested in Edenton. John, thanks for taking my phone call on a Saturday.
Though I texted Chesson, I didn’t hear anything so I went on a walk through Hayes so that I could be in that big field around sunset.
On Monday, Chesson said he couldn’t comment on Tractor Supply’s arrival at the present time, but will provide an update at a later date.
I suspect Tractor Supply wouldn’t have placed that sign up with all its implications if they weren’t planning something. When I hear something from Chesson or Town Hall, I’ll be sure to share the details.
Flashback – that commercial space, formerly where Food Lion was located in the shopping complex on North Broad Street, has been vacant for a several years. Despite Food Lion moving to its new location on Virginia Road in the spring of 2016, the company continued to lease that 32,000+ square feet of space on North Broad Street until late 2020 when it decided not to renew its lease option. Though I’m not going to publish the figure, I remember the dollar amount that Food Lion paid for the rented space for years after it moved – wasn’t cheap.
And from what I remember reporting on the matter, the property needed roof repairs and some work done – stuff you can’t do with WD-40 and duct tape.
A couple of years ago in 2023, an Arkansas bank, Today’s Bank of Fayetteville, invested $2.8 million to fix the shopping center’s roof and make other renovations to put the property on the market for commercial use, possibly a second grocery store — maybe one that doesn’t find it hard to keep Butter Pecan ice cream on the shelf so that you don’t have to drive to Hertford’s Food Lion instead after church on Sunday.
Town of Edenton has been searching high and low to land a business in that location. There have been many suitors for that site over the years, so much so that the search for and rumors of possible tenants have been fodder on local social media for years.
In other news, former Town Councilman Jimmy Alligood posted to social media that we may be getting an Bojangle’s. That would be nice…
Chesson also said he couldn’t not presently comment on the fast-food restaurant, but would have something available at another date.