Rural King

[RobS]

#2 son and I hit our new Rural King store yesterday. It's in a previous K-Mart in Niles, Michigan. In a word, it's huge! They used all the square footage of the K-Mart. Much bigger than the TSC down the street, which used to be a Quality Farm & Fleet.

The building was pretty much unchanged. Flourescent lights hanging from the suspended ceiling. Remnants of glue-down carpet glue and the whole floor was kind of shiney/dark. Can't complain about the inventory though. They had everything TSC has and then some. I picked up a 2" reciever tube to mount on the bumper of the camper for a bike rack to slide into.

They had a whole hunting section, some Lodge cast iron and plenty of Carhartts. Outside they had four tractors for sale. Farm King brand. Son had fun sitting on them so I had a closer look. Very unimpressed. Mechanically, they may be fine but the fit/finish of the sheet metal was horrible. Lots of rust starting and the paint was faded. Not at all what I'm used to seeing on the lots of the major manufacturers.

They did have free popcorn inside which was a hit with my son. I will enjoy the competition between TSC and Rural King, particularly as they are within a half mile or so of each other.

Anyone else have experiences with Rural King?

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[_RaT_]

Well Rob, being as we don't even have a TSC anywhere nearby, I don't think we will see a Rural King anytime soon. I know what you mean about the popcorn, my 4 year old can always find the free popcorn. He breaths the stuff.

 

[RobS]

That's interesting RaT. Are there any kind of rural/farm stores in your area? Where do the horse people get their supplies? If you need a spare lynch pin, where do you get one? Who sells King Kutter brand implements?

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[TexMex]

RobS I have a Rural King and like it a lot. I think you are right about some of the things, it is not as nice as the BIG NAME machines, Deere, Kubota and Massey Ferguson are all built to a much higher standard. I would say that my Chinese Rural King is every bit as good as a Kioti or a Mahinda, in fact when I looked at those, they weighed less and cost more and as I needed a good stout machine, the Rural King worked well for me, at least it has over the past year. I just couldn't see paying the same money for a Kioti that I would pay for a Deere, or more for a Kioti than a Kubota. But the Mahindra was nice, cheaper than Kioti and all the others; Mahindra looked well built too. I never looked at the New Hollands, dealer was too far away, but Massey Fergusons sure are a fine machine!!! I really liked those, just couldn't justify the price.

Price per pound Rural King is the big winner. Lots of power for the money too.

 

[_RaT_]

My local hardware store carries alot of stuff. Still a small family operated place, I love that. We also have some places out a ways in the farm country kind of like TSC I suppose. Our local dealer though has most of those things. We once had a place called Big R but they disappeared. I am not familiar with King Kutter. My local dealer carries Brush Hog, Landpride, Howard, to mention some of the brands I am familiar with.

 

[RobertN]

Ah, come on now... TSC aint that far away. It's just short drive to Woodland /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif There's a good BBQ place in old downtown Woodland too. Oh, and that old tractor museum...

Y'all missed the popcorn; my son has been selling popcorn for a Boy Scout fundraiser. Oh man, that stuff is good! Would give the Girl Scout cookies a run for thier money, no problem /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Birdhunter1]

There's a Rural King in the next town over, I call it the Redneck Wal Mart.
They do have aot of stuff, some of which is very high quality (Carhartt's, "some" tools) but you'd better watch what you buy sometimes because they have alot of cheap-crap stuff too!

 

[_RaT_]

Robert, there's a TSC in Woodland? I remember a Hasco or Wasco, or Hafco or something out there, even bought a Rubbermaid poop hauler for my sisters horses from them. Truth is, my local Kubota dealer has all I need. Now that I'm selling my L3830, I would love to try a Bobcat CTL out. Not that I need it for my measily one acre that I moved into, but it would be fun.

 

[GeneD14]

When we go down to Indiana to see family we sometimes go to Rural King. I could spend hours in there! Some of the chains, trailer hitch parts, etc... are much cheaper than our TSC.

 

[Devildog]

Also when visiting family in IN me and my Dad would slip over to the rural king in brazil. Man I wish we had that here in Va.