Ranch & Home Supply Inc., a Bozeman, Mont.-based company that operates a small chain of Big R Ranch & Home Supply stores, has broken ground on a 51,000-square-foot outlet along U.S. 2 near Mead.


John Murdock, owner of Ranch & Home Supply, says the company plans to open the store, which will be on the east side of U.S. 2 about a half mile north of a new Yokes Washington Foods Inc. supermarket, in mid-September. Murdock says Ranch & Home Supply plans to open two more stores in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene market.


Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the general contractor for the $1.8 million store on U.S. 2, Murdock says.


He says the company expects to hire between 50 and 60 employees to staff the new store, which will carry ranch supplies, animal feeds, pet supplies, and mens and womens clothing, among other goods.


Big R Supply is a store name used by retailers that carry similar merchandise and belong to a St. Paul, Minn.-based buying group called Mid-State Distributing Co. Murdock says members of the buying group started using the common name to boost name recognition for their respective stores, but the stores arent part of the St. Paul company.


The outlet near Mead will be the first store here operated by Ranch & Home Supply, although Sandvigs Big R Supply, which is owned by a different company, does business in the Spokane Valley at 8325 E. Trent.


Ranch & Home Supply hasnt sought sites for additional stores yet, nor has it set a timeline for opening those stores, he says.


The north store was important to us because we see growth in the number of people with 10 to 25 acres there, Murdock says.


Separately, Ranch & Home Supply has agreed to buy a Big R Supply store in Moses Lake and expects to take over operation of that store July 1.


The company currently operates four Big R stores in Montana.