Titan Machinery acquires Arthur Mercantile

By Sarah Sorvaag

Arthur Mercantile Co. has been a prominent business on Main Street in Arthur for many decades. This locally owned business is the oldest farm equipment dealership in North Dakota, at 119 years old, and continues to thrive in popularity.

Although Arthur Mercantile could continue to independently offer quality equipment at reasonable prices, the decision was recently made to have the small town business merge into a Titan Machinery Inc. multi-store complex. 

Arthur Mercantile representatives and Titan Machinery representatives have been discussing the merge since early this year. An agreement was reached in March and the acquisition is expected to close on May 28.

James L. Williams, Arthur Mercantile’s President and Treasurer, has been on Titan Machinery’s board of directors since 2003. He is a strong supporter of Titan Machinery’s long-term growth initiatives and the impressive organization of their local facilities. He stated that the small town business is simply changing management and its appearance, but will continue to provide personal service to area farmers.

“The Arthur Mercantile Company will still own the property. We intend to do major remodeling and possibly an addition and upgrading,” he said.

“I think it’s really the trend in the industry to consolidate large multi-store complexes. It’s what the manufacturers want, though we were not forced to do so,” Williams stated.

Williams expects that the transition from being a privately owned business to a multi-store complex will take some time for customers and employees to adapt.

“I suspect that all the people who work here will be doing things a little bit differently. There will be some new procedures and some changes in personnel roles in the future. For now, everyone who is here will continue to do what they’ve been doing,” he explained.

One of the new personnel features to be added in Arthur is the position of complex manager, which will be filled by Kevin Boeder. He will manage both Casselton and Arthur’s Titan Machinery businesses. Byron Nelson will be Arthur’s site manager.

“We’re very excited. They bring a lot of product support to the customers. It’s common for there to be a complex manager overseeing two stores. Casselton and Arthur have a long-standing relationship and they compliment each other well,” Boeder said.

Williams stated that Titan Machinery’s success will likely be a great asset in the continuation of Arthur’s ability to offer quality farming equipment.

“They have been very successful. With their size, they can take advantage of buying in volume. I like the way they run their stores. They’re managed locally as opposed to being run out of some central location. The local managers have a lot of authority and responsibility. Decisions can be made here as opposed to calling someone at some other location,” Williams stated.

“We will continue to have a dealership here, which is important to our family. It’s important to Titan that our local customers are taken care of,” he added.

  Titan Machinery owns and operates one of the largest networks of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in North America. Including Arthur Merc., the network consists of 66 dealerships throughout the upper Midwest.