WHEATLAND – Good news Platte County, Bomgaars has purchased the vacant Shopko building and hopes to open in mid to late November in time for the holiday shopping season.
Bomgaars is a retail chain that offers farm and ranch supply with headquarters in Sioux City, Iowa. It is operated by the Bomgaars family and there are stores in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming. The next location closest to Wheatland is in Torrington.
“We’ve looked at opening a store in the area for a long time but struggled to find a big enough location for our inventory needs,” explained Bomgaars CFO Torrey Wright. “This is a hug win for us and the community especially.”

But is it good news entirely? Folks have been talking around town and on Facebook about how the larger store could hurt our smaller, locally owned businesses that sell similar products.
“We had a lot of discussion during fair week, it’s going to be hard for some of the existing businesses,” said Jamie Rasnake. “What we do like is that they carry a majority of things, whatever you need you’re going to find it there. They offer a wide variety. We frequent the one in Torrington quite often.”
Rasnake suggested that the local stores find a niche of products that Bomgaars doesn’t carry. For example, Wheatland Country Store has a wider selection of show feed, clothes, gear and boots. That may be the best idea for staying competitive.  
 A common statement that the whole town seems to be saying is, “anything is better than an empty building.” As a community, it’s important to patronize all of our local merchants to keep our town thriving.
The company has purchased nine other Shopkos in the area including Newcastle. A manager has already moved to Wheatland to oversee the renovation and organize product shipment and display. A job fair will be held Aug. 21 and 22. They are expecting to hire approximately 25 local associates to operate the store. Watch the Record-Times for details on the grand opening.