A local agricultural equipment dealer recently underwent an ownership and name change, but its customers won’t notice much difference when they visit the store on Seymour’s west side.
Wright Implement Co. of Kentucky completed the purchase of Deer Country Equipment at 1250 W. Second St. along with Deer Country Equipment stores in Corydon and Orleans on Monday.
With the addition of the Deer Country Equipment locations, Wright Implement now will be serving a total of 39 counties, including 15 in Indiana, 21 in Kentucky and three in Tennessee, through its eight locations, according to a news release announcing the acquisition described as a merger.
The company also has plans to increase its employees to 200 across its tri-state coverage area, with about 25 of those working at Seymour.
Under the new ownership, the Seymour location will continue to sell John Deere, Stihl, Honda and products from other manufacturers and services. The only difference is the name will be changed to Wright Implement Co.
“We may offer some new products, but basically it’s business as usual,” said Brian Cecil, a spokesman for Wright Implement.
He said there are no plans to increase the number of employees at Seymour at this time, but that could change in the future.
Wright Implement was established in 1936 and currently is owned by the families of Ben Wright, Brenda Wright, Joe Wright and Barbara Wright, all of Harned, Kentucky.
The company has two locations in Owensboro, Kentucky, and others in Bowling Green, Kentucky; Hardinsburg, Kentucky; Glasgow, Kentucky; and Scottsville, Kentucky.
Wright Implement offers a full line of new and used John Deere residential and commercial mowers and compact, utility and agricultural tractors. The company also sells John Deere Gators, combines, sprayers and other products from Stihl and Honda.
Deer Country Equipment formerly was known as Bryant Implement and was owned by Thomas C. “T-Bone” Bryant, who often billed himself as “the world’s largest John Deere dealer in the country” because of his physical size.
Bryant and a partnership purchased the company in 1975. Bryant, a Brownstown resident, remained in charge of the business until it was sold to Deer Country in 2005. He died in 2011.
The Seymour location sits on six acres at the corner of Community Drive and Second Street and also has an implement and equipment storage area on the south side of Second Street east of Community Drive.
“Even as we grow, our mission remains the same,” Ben Wright said in the news release, pledging to continue to make customers feel as if they are “the most important people we serve every day.”