Fleet Farm

Fleet Farm
	"Proudly Serving the Midwest since 1955"
Formerly	Mills Fleet Farm (prior to 2018)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Founded	1955
Founders	Stewart Mills Sr.; Stewart Mills Jr.; Henry Mills II
Headquarters	Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Number of locations	47 (As of August 2021)
Key people	John Shaefer (President, CEO)
Products	Hunting and fishing equipment & licenses, small appliances, household goods, automotive goods, clothing and footwear, toys, food, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies.
Owner	KKR
Website	www.fleetfarm.com

Fleet Farm (formerly Mills Fleet Farm) is an American retail chain of 47 stores in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. Headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, the company has a main distribution center in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, with a buying/support office and warehouse in Appleton.

The stores range in size from small hardware store formats to larger stores. They sell hunting and fishing equipment and licenses, small appliances, household goods, automotive goods, clothing and footwear, toys, food, hardware, lawn and garden supplies, paint, pet supplies, sporting goods, tools, and farm supplies. Most locations also have an auto service center, gas mart, and car wash.

On July 10, 2019, Fleet Farm announced that they had reached a deal with SECURA Insurance to purchase their current headquarters building; Fleet Farm would then move their headquarters to Appleton. SECURA is currently in the process of building a new building in the Appleton suburb of Fox Crossing. The move is expected to start in early 2020 once SECURA moves out and be complete by March.^[2]

History

Stewart C. Mills Sr. founded Mills Companies in Brainerd, Minnesota in 1922. The family later created an oil company and opened a dealership and auto parts stores. Fleet Farm was founded in 1955 by Stewart Mills Sr. and his sons Henry Mills II and Stewart Mills Jr. The first store, named Fleet Wholesale Supply, was opened in Marshfield, Wisconsin.^[3]

Similarly-named Blain's Farm and Fleet was also founded in 1955 by Bert and Claude Blain, friends of the Mills family. The two families agreed to use similar names and have historically operated in different territories.^[4]^[5]

In 2016, Mills Fleet Farm was sold to the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for an undisclosed amount rumored to be around $1.2 billion.^[3]^[6] As of July 2018, the "Mills" part of the name has been dropped, shortening the name to "Fleet Farm". In addition, Fleet Farm launched a new brand campaign and added the tagline “Built for real life”, replacing the slogan "We Love It" which debuted in 2009.

Store brands

Fleet Farm carries a variety of store brands in a variety of departments. These include: Road Runner - Batteries and tires, Big Max - Trailers and automotive supplies, Field and Forest - Clothing and footwear, Fleet Boutique - Women's clothing, Dura-Built - Farm supplies, Milkhouse brand - Dairy supplies, Farm Life - Animal supplements, Sprout - Animal feed, Mills Fleet Farm - Candy and nuts, Farm Toys.