Leaf River Ag has expanded its business with a new retail center to serve those in the city, as well as those in the country.
We felt we needed a presence here in Wadena, Leaf River Ag Manager Scott Dau said.
The business already sold some retail at its other locations in New York Mills and Bluffton.
The other part of the new building is a large seed warehouse.
A big motive was the seed warehouse, Dau said.
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Now all of Leaf River Ags seed is stored under the same roof. Before, seed was stored in four locations. Consolidation of the seed storage means inventory will be easier to manage. If someone orders some feed, it will be much easier to find, Dau said.
Also, the warehouse allows Leaf River Ag to keep a lot of seed on hand.
We needed to have a bigger seed warehouse because we are the largest distributor in the area, Dau said.
The new 72-foot-by-240-foot building was constructed at Fifth Street southwest near Wadena-Deer Creek High School and Wadena Community Center. The building includes a retail store, seed warehouse and office space. The farm center is still in the old building, which is next door.
Office space was crowded, so that was moved to the new building as well.
Construction began in the summer of 2005, and the building was completed in December. The business began moving into the building in January.
The retail store has an assortment of dog and cat food, fencing, livestock equipment, deer food, bird feed and feeders. Also, people can find lawn and garden fertilizer and chemicals, water softener salt, overshoes and gloves.
Leaf River Ag will continue to offer a full line of agronomy services and products such as custom application of chemicals, feed manufacturing, bulk fuel and propane, and grains.
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The retail store and office are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m. Saturday. The phone number is (218) 631-1020.
Staff will be the same for now and the new building should satisfy the business demands for a while.
This was a big, primary goal, Dau said. Well see what we need to do next to meet market demands.
