COLLINSVILLE — Rural King Supply, a fast-growing farm equipment and supply retailer, plans to open a store in Collinsville next year, and company and city officials say it's a good match for both.

The new store would be along Collinsville Road in a location vacant since a Value City store closed nearly a year ago. It would be Mattoon, Ill.-based Rural King's 46th store, and its second in the Metro East area. The company opened a store in Waterloo in 2001 and expanded it last year to 90,000 square feet. (A Rural King store in Highland is owned by a different company.)

Founded in 1960, Rural King Supply has stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The stores offer animal feed, farm and lawn equipment, parts and supplies, work wear, other clothing, housewares and toys.

Rural King recently bought the 104,000-square-foot building at 9525 Collinsville Road from Johnson Properties. The building also houses a Shop 'n Save supermarket.

Through the years, the site had also been occupied by a USA discount store that was destroyed by fire in the mid-1960s and a Kmart.

Rob Patterson, Rural King's vice president of operations, said the Shop 'n Save store will stay and the Rural King store will occupy about 80,000 square feet. He said renovation is expected to begin within the next few weeks, and company officials hope to have the store open by about March 1.

Patterson said the store is expected to employ 35 to 40 people.

He said Rural King is considering other expansion options in the St. Louis area, but he would not be more specific. The company's Illinois stores are in Litchfield, Vandalia, Effingham, Carbondale, Murphysboro and Marion. It has a website at www.ruralking.com.

"We are always looking for expansion," Patterson said. "We try to find the locations that we feel would be a good fit for us."

Paul Mann, Collinsville's community development director, said Rural King is "a perfect match for that location," with its proximity to interstates 55-70 and Interstate 255. "We're happy to have them. It's a good outfit, a good sales generator."

And, city officials hope, a retail presence that will stabilize the Collinsville Road corridor and attract additional business investment.

"We believe it will serve as a catalyst for the corridor, which has seen more prosperous days," Mann said. He said revitalization of the Collinsville Road business district is one of the city's top priorities.

Mann said Rural King is seeking city permits that would allow new signage and outdoor storage and display of merchandise.

Rural King occupies the same retail sector as Tractor Supply Co., the sector leader, which has more than 850 locations nationwide, including stores in Union, Mo.; Troy, Mo., and Alton. A Tractor Supply spokesman denied a report that the company is planning to open a store in Belleville. No such decision has been made, he said.