[EXCLUSIVE] Tractor Supply Looking to "Furnish" Metro Atlanta With New Store

Tractor Supply Company is looking to open a new store in Alpharetta.  The Brentwood, Tennessee-based retailer wants to renovate an existing building along North Point Parkway near North Point Mall to suit its needs. 

Specifically, Tractor Supply wants to make use of the former Ethan Allen at 6800 North Point Parkway, a 34,313 square foot building sitting on 4.6 acres that has been vacant since 2020 when the furniture retailer closed and moved across the street to a smaller building that had been a La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store.  

Property records indicate that the building was constructed in 1997, four years after the debut of North Point Mall.  The site is also adjacent to a trailhead of the Big Creek Greenway.  

The company has made several requests of the City of Alpharetta to proceed with its plans.  Among the requests made by the retailer are a master plan amendment, conditional use, and variance to allow for the re-use of the building. 

"A master plan amendment is requested to the North Point Business Center Master Plan Pod 7 to add ‘Home Improvement Store’ and ‘Retail Establishment, Mixed Sales’ as conditional uses. A conditional use is requested to allow ‘Home Improvement Store’ and ‘Retail Establishment, Mixed Sales’ for Tractor Supply Company. A variance is requested to Unified Development Code (UDC) Section 2.5 Parking and Loading, to reduce parking requirements."

Tractor Supply Company began in 1938 as a Chicago-area mail-order business focused on providing quality tractor parts to farmers at fair prices. The business has expanded tremendously since then and today includes products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, and equine care for recreational farmers and ranchers, pet owners, and landowners, among other offerings.  

The company currently operates 50 stores around Georgia including those in Carrollton, Newnan, Athens, and Gainesville, among others and in late 2021 celebrated the opening of its 2,000th store.  The Alpharetta store would mark the company's first "metro Atlanta" store.  Tractor Supply currently has a presence in 46 states.  

Despite the challenges facing North Point Mall, commercial interest in the corridor remains strong.  

More than a dozen national retailers or restaurants have opened in existing or new spaces along North Point Parkway over the past dozen years or so.  

Among the more notable openings are:

REI opening in place of a former OfficeMax, Nordstrom Rack replacing Ben's Furniture, Studio Movie Grill opening in place of AMC Mansell 14, Dave & Buster's in place of Regal North Point 8, Rooms To Go Patio replacing a former Pier 1, Total Wine backfilling Stein Mart, and more recently, Burlington in place of a former Toys R Us.  New locations of Rooms To Go and Ashley Furniture also opened on property that once housed a Bahama Breeze, among other things.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reported March 28 that IKEA plans to bring a new, small format design & pick-up oriented store to Mansell Crossing later this summer.   

Restaurant wise, multiple former restaurants were demolished for a new development that includes Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar and Snooze an A.M. Eatery, among other tenants.  Locally owned Food Terminal also backfilled a shuttered Fuddruckers, while Outback Steakhouse relocated their Johns Creek restaurant to a newly built outparcel along North Point Parkway.  The Passador, a Brazilian steakhouse, also opened in place of Galeto, another Brazilian Steakhouse.  Starbucks also opened a new location while Buffalo Wild Wings opened a new restaurant but shuttered another one nearby.

Chow One Korean Steakhouse is also actively renovating the former Alpharetta Sweet Tomatoes with plans to open soon, as is Original ChopShop in the short-lived Bolay.  

To be fair, "opportunities," such as the one-time CompUSA that was later Total Wine before their relocation, remain.  Also still vacant is the former Atlantic Seafood Company that had received interest from Whataburger but is no longer moving forward after city demands of the developer reportedly made it economically unfeasible.  Also still vacant are a former Starbucks beside Barnes & Noble, a one-time freestanding Verizon, and a one-time First Union bank, all along North Point Parkway.  

As for the mall itself, anchors JCPenney, Macy's, Dillard's, Von Maur, and AMC remain, but there is now a push to lure a new NHL team to the property.  

Are you surprised to see Tractor Supply plan a new store so close to metro Atlanta?  Have you ever been to a Tractor Supply Company store?  What other shops, restaurants, or amenities would you like to see open in the North Point area?

Please share your thoughts below.