C-A-L Ranch and Coastal Farm & Ranch Stores merging

[SamSpade]

A merger is coming to "a ranch and farm store... and so much more" as they look to merge with other regional store Coastal.
https://localnews8.com/news/idaho-falls ... nce-merger

Much more detailed report from website that is like a regional newspaper at this point:
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/01/l ... th-merger/

[jamcool]

The CAL stores have larger clothing departments than their main competitor-Tractor Supply-and also have hunting and fishing supplies (including guns-at least in the Arizona stores).

[bryceleinan]

Both chains are members of Mid-States Distributing, so no major changes on that front. C-A-L is also a True Value customer and has some full-line True Value stores, so I imagine Coastal will pick up those lines.

Having shopped at both, I’m more of a fan of Coastal. What’s interesting is that this is very similar to the Columbia Bank / Umpqua Bank merger in that the smaller company (Coastal) is technically the purchaser. Did not realize they were owned by private equity now, at least according to this presser:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... -Farm-Home

[storewanderer]

True Value seems to be losing locations over the years. First one I noticed going was in Truckee, many years ago, flipped to Ace. More recently, Grass Valley True Value flipped to Ace. I think some others have gone lately too.

Coastal strikes me as having more to offer on hard goods than C-A-L Ranch, but the units I was in were a lot larger...

Both of these chains have a far larger and more interesting product mix than Tractor Supply.

[bryceleinan]

True Value seems to be losing locations over the years. First one I noticed going was in Truckee, many years ago, flipped to Ace. More recently, Grass Valley True Value flipped to Ace. I think some others have gone lately too.

Coastal strikes me as having more to offer on hard goods than C-A-L Ranch, but the units I was in were a lot larger...

Both of these chains have a far larger and more interesting product mix than Tractor Supply.

Coastal locations tend to be larger - and quite frankly, I prefer their selection and service over C-A-L Ranch. However, I see this as a win for both chains. I think you’ll see Grange Co-Op and Wilco merge next, since Wilco is just a tad smaller than the combined Coastal/C-A-L. It’ll be interesting to see if D&B Supply makes a move too - they’re also part of Mid States.