Three months after its approval, the walls of the new Tractor Supply store is rapidly rising inside the Ceres Gateway Center.
The new 21,702-square-foot project is being constructed southwest of the In-N-Out Burger.
In March the Ceres Planning Commission approved a tentative parcel map and Specific Plan Site Plan to allow the construction of the Tractor Supply. The commission also OK’d subdividing the Ceres Gateway Center’s last remaining parcel of 4.61 acres into a three-acre commercial lot and a 1.61-acre parcel for a drainage basin.
The Tractor Supply will feature a garden center, outdoor display and forage shed. A total of 89 parking spaces are proposed along with landscaping around the perimeter.
Tractor Supply sells clothing and apparel, pet supplies, work boots and shoes, farm and ranch supplies such as ag fencing and gates, sprayers, tanks and pumps, tractor parts, livestock handling equipment, and ATV and UTV attachments. It does not, however, sell tractors. The Ceres Tractor Supply store will be seven miles from the nearest Tractor Supply which is on Walnut Avenue in Turlock.
The new store joins a number of other businesses in the Ceres Gateway Center, located at the southwest corner of Service and Mitchell roads – In-N-Out Burger, Starbucks, Chipotle, an Ono Hawaiian BBQ and Quick Quack Car Wash.
Woodspring Inn & Suites is expected to break ground soon near Tractor Supply. The four-story high hotel will physically dominate the center with 50,800 square feet allowing 122 rooms and laundry facilities. It will occupy a 2.16-acre parcel adjacent to the east side of Highway 99.
The last construction project will be a 4,549-square-foot Union 76 gas station and a convenience store building with a drive-thru operation to support a fast-food restaurant. The building will go in south of Starbucks at the Mitchell Road entrance of the center.
As Tractor Supply goes up, construction is occurring on a new Popeye’s Chicken restaurant between the Starbucks and the In-N-Out Burger. Popeye’s has an existing restaurant in Ceres at 1400 Hatch Road.
Christopher Hoem, the city’s director of Community Development, said the store is expected to draw people from Ceres and the surrounding community and will be a good addition to Ceres’ sales tax base.
The first Tractor Supply store opened in 1938 in Minot, N.D., and as of Dec. 31, the company operated 2,066 Tractor Supply stores in 49 states. In October, Tractor Supply acquired 81 stores from Orscheln Farm and Home that will be rebranded to Tractor Supply by the end of 2023.
