Wakarusa Ag Services Relocates to S.R. 19
Published: Friday, December 1, 2023
A Wakarusa farm equipment dealership is in the process of pulling up roots and moving to a more visible location along S.R. 19.
Wakarusa Ag Services, formerly headquartered at 711 E. Waterford St., has purchased the store previously owned by Weaver Ag & Lawn Equipment, located at 905 Nelson's Parkway on Wakarusa's south side.
Dwayne Martin, co-owner and chief marketing officer, said the family-owned dealership hopes to benefit from greater visibility on S.R. 19.
"By being in town, we weren't on a corridor where farmers were going to be driving by a whole lot," he said. However, with the new location on the state highway, he hopes people will notice when new tractors arrive.
"The biggest advantage, though, is when it comes to the lawn and garden side," he said. "Being on a state road, you have more impulse buys: lawn and garden, four-wheelers, ATVs and stuff like that."
Meanwhile, Weaver Ag & Lawn is building a new store in Mishawaka that will offer JCB construction equipment.
According to Martin, Ken Weaver, owner of Weaver Ag, approached him about the possibility of purchasing the store. He said Weaver wanted to focus on the JCB product line and his other passion, farming.
"They reached out to us and we were interested," Martin said.
The transaction between Weaver and the Martin family became official on Oct. 30. Since then, the Martins have been moving their inventory to the new store and getting settled there.
Martin said the company has retained several people from Weaver Ag's sales force, so customers may notice many familiar faces when they walk in the store. He added that Wakarusa Ag will continue to have a presence at both locations until the end of this year, until the parts and service departments have been transitioned to the new site.
When the two sites are fully merged into one, Wakarusa Ag will have a total of 18 employees.
Wakarusa Ag is owned by Martin, his father and three brothers. The fact that they are all farmers gives them a unique understanding of what farmers expect from an equipment dealer: fast, friendly, reliable service.
Whereas the company formerly specialized in equipment for the livestock industry, the acquisition of this new store and additional product lines will allow Wakarusa Ag to offer equipment for row crop producers as well. The new store will also be the headquarters of Wakarusa Rental Services offering rental equipment for agriculture, lawn and garden, and residential customers.
Currently, Wakarusa Ag offers TYM tractors, Stihl chainsaws, BadBoy and Grasshopper mowers, Deutz-Fahr, CaseIH parts and many others. The company will also be a subdealer for JCB.
Plans are still in flux, but Martin said Wakarusa Ag plans to take on many of the other product lines sold by Weaver Ag, except for Kyoti and Mahindra.
"We'll be changing a few (product) lines, but it's pretty much business as normal," he said. "We should be able to expand our product offering and our service expertise by combining the two stores. We'll have a bigger, nicer facility, too."
When asked if the supply chain has settled down from the hiccups caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin said the situation has improved for the most part. In fact, suppliers have more product than they can handle right now. They're urging dealers to stock up.
"Compact tractors used to be a year to a year and half out, and now we can get them in almost six weeks," Martin said. "It's pretty quick."
One area that is not recovering quite as fast is compact construction. Martin said the wait time is still about one year for skid loaders, track loaders and mini excavators.
"I would say we're back to pretty normal, with some lines overstocked," he said.
Since the transaction became official, the Martins have had to iron out a few wrinkles, but Dwayne said the transition has been smooth. The company plans to hold a grand opening next spring. That will give them enough time to relocate the parts area and rearrange the show room.
Also, the exterior fence will be torn down to allow better visibility of the equipment, and a new one will go up on the back side of the building for security purposes. New signs will be erected.
Return to Top of Page