From Ammo To Chicks, Rural King Offers A Variety Of Goods
March 26, 2022 at 12:56 a.m.
From Ammo To Chicks, Rural King Offers A Variety Of Goods
By David [email protected]
The new Warsaw store at 3350 Lake City Highway had its ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, and its grand opening starts today.
“We’re a farm and home store, so we have agriculture, farm feed, we have a full line of feed supplies, we carry steel, Carhartt, full line of tools and hardware. We have a large gun assortment. We sell firearms and we’ve got over 15,000 boxes of ammo back there. We’ve got tons of ammo - no shortage of that,” said Michele Scott, store manager, on Friday before the ribbon-cutting.
Every day, customers are offered free popcorn and coffee when they walk in the door.
“If you’ve never shopped here, you should give yourself an hour to walk through every department because we have something in the store for everybody. Basically, the only thing we don’t sell is bread and milk,” Scott said. “We have consumables. We have everything you need to eat, drink, sleep, everything from our consumable area.”
There’s a clothing area, and the popular firearms department.
Any kind of animal is allowed in the store. Scott said there is a monkey named Jesse that comes in all the time. On Friday, there were at least three different dogs within a one-hour window. Each of the registers has free treats for dogs.
What makes Rural King unique, she said, is that Rural King really cares about its customers.
“We’re very passionate about our customers. We have one owner - Alex Melvin - and he just cares about our company, cares about us, and we have great customer service. We have great (employee) benefits. When people walk in the door, they just feel like they’re at home,” Scott said.
Rural King is committed to having the products it carries in stock.
“We just have everything for the farmer, that rural customer, which, a lot of stores don’t cater to the rural customer. We do. That’s going to be our whole niche in this whole thing, is we’re going to cater to that rural customer. So everybody that comes in here, if they have a farm, we’re going to have everything they need to run that farm,” Scott said.
As of Friday, she said they had about 65 employees and were looking to hire about 30 more as Rural King is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. The business is only closed for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.
As part of the grand opening, Rural King is offering giveaways. Today, it’s a free bottle of water. Sunday, it’s a big bag of Puffs that taste like maple syrup. Monday, it’s succulents (plants). Tuesday, everyone gets a free Rural King hat.
“We also have 15 different items that they can scan a QR code and we’re giving away 15 different items throughout the store that they can come in and register to win for those items in four days,” Scott said.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said having Rural King here and in that space is “absolutely amazing” for that side of town. The building formerly housed Kmart until late 2019.
“You know what an eyesore is, when you have a big box store that sits empty. And to be able to have it filled with people who are working, getting employment, getting paychecks, having products and services that people want, it’s amazing. This is just absolutely incredible. It’s a great thing for Rural King, it’s a great thing for Warsaw and the surrounding area. We couldn’t be more thrilled that they’re here,” Parker said.
Where Rural King has entered a community, they’ve never left it, he said.
“We’ve never closed a store,” Scott agreed. “We take the old buildings - we don’t build from the ground up.”
Rural King was founded in 1960.
“We’re excited to be here,” Scott said. “We opened last Saturday and the lines have been long since we opened. That’s why I decided we needed another 30 people.”
“We’re super excited they’re here. It’s going to be incredible this side of town,” Parker said. “Hopefully, what it does - I don’t know this - but hopefully everything out here gets built up because (Rural King is) going to be attracting so many people out here that there’s this domino effect. So once one big thing happens, there’s a lot of little things that come along right beside it. So, hopefully, this will become a thriving shopping center once again like it was.”
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The new Warsaw store at 3350 Lake City Highway had its ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, and its grand opening starts today.
“We’re a farm and home store, so we have agriculture, farm feed, we have a full line of feed supplies, we carry steel, Carhartt, full line of tools and hardware. We have a large gun assortment. We sell firearms and we’ve got over 15,000 boxes of ammo back there. We’ve got tons of ammo - no shortage of that,” said Michele Scott, store manager, on Friday before the ribbon-cutting.
Every day, customers are offered free popcorn and coffee when they walk in the door.
“If you’ve never shopped here, you should give yourself an hour to walk through every department because we have something in the store for everybody. Basically, the only thing we don’t sell is bread and milk,” Scott said. “We have consumables. We have everything you need to eat, drink, sleep, everything from our consumable area.”
There’s a clothing area, and the popular firearms department.
Any kind of animal is allowed in the store. Scott said there is a monkey named Jesse that comes in all the time. On Friday, there were at least three different dogs within a one-hour window. Each of the registers has free treats for dogs.
What makes Rural King unique, she said, is that Rural King really cares about its customers.
“We’re very passionate about our customers. We have one owner - Alex Melvin - and he just cares about our company, cares about us, and we have great customer service. We have great (employee) benefits. When people walk in the door, they just feel like they’re at home,” Scott said.
Rural King is committed to having the products it carries in stock.
“We just have everything for the farmer, that rural customer, which, a lot of stores don’t cater to the rural customer. We do. That’s going to be our whole niche in this whole thing, is we’re going to cater to that rural customer. So everybody that comes in here, if they have a farm, we’re going to have everything they need to run that farm,” Scott said.
As of Friday, she said they had about 65 employees and were looking to hire about 30 more as Rural King is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. The business is only closed for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.
As part of the grand opening, Rural King is offering giveaways. Today, it’s a free bottle of water. Sunday, it’s a big bag of Puffs that taste like maple syrup. Monday, it’s succulents (plants). Tuesday, everyone gets a free Rural King hat.
“We also have 15 different items that they can scan a QR code and we’re giving away 15 different items throughout the store that they can come in and register to win for those items in four days,” Scott said.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said having Rural King here and in that space is “absolutely amazing” for that side of town. The building formerly housed Kmart until late 2019.
“You know what an eyesore is, when you have a big box store that sits empty. And to be able to have it filled with people who are working, getting employment, getting paychecks, having products and services that people want, it’s amazing. This is just absolutely incredible. It’s a great thing for Rural King, it’s a great thing for Warsaw and the surrounding area. We couldn’t be more thrilled that they’re here,” Parker said.
Where Rural King has entered a community, they’ve never left it, he said.
“We’ve never closed a store,” Scott agreed. “We take the old buildings - we don’t build from the ground up.”
Rural King was founded in 1960.
“We’re excited to be here,” Scott said. “We opened last Saturday and the lines have been long since we opened. That’s why I decided we needed another 30 people.”
“We’re super excited they’re here. It’s going to be incredible this side of town,” Parker said. “Hopefully, what it does - I don’t know this - but hopefully everything out here gets built up because (Rural King is) going to be attracting so many people out here that there’s this domino effect. So once one big thing happens, there’s a lot of little things that come along right beside it. So, hopefully, this will become a thriving shopping center once again like it was.”
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