November 17, 2011

TSC cuts the ribbon

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No one could recall a day when the parking lot of what was once a grocery store was so full of cars.

As the Granville location of Tractor Supply Company made its opening official, the parking lot outside was filled to capacity requiring shoppers to park across the street or in the empty lot in front of the former Ames department store.

“The community has been just great to us and I feel blessed to come out here – it’s just been great,” store manager Travis Fisher said.

Fisher said since the store’s soft opening the business has been steady.

Eyeing the lines at the store’s two registers Fisher said he was curious to see what the biggest holiday shopping day of the year Black Friday brings to the store.

Several employees and company officials lined up with Granville Supervisor Matt Hicks, Mayor Brian LaRose and former Mayor Jay Niles to cut the ribbon and make the store officially open.

LaRose and Hicks deferred to Niles, the driving force behind getting the store into the village, for comment on the moment. “I’d like to congratulate Tractor Supply on this moment and for a successful store opening,” Niles said. “I’m happy they will be here to provide shopping opportunities to our citizens and to further expand economic development in this area. I’m very pleased,” Niles said.

The current mayor said he was equally pleased to have a new business within the village.

“I just want to welcome Tractor Supply to the community and echo what Jay said. We’ve always been very pro-business in the village and we want to make it feasible for new businesses to come into Granville and still support our pre-existing businesses,” LaRose said.

Agreeing Niles and LaRose, Hicks quipped he looked to the added bonus of having the new store in town: “I’m happy I can do all of my Christmas shopping without leaving town.”