A longtime area farm store chain is closing for good at the end of March.
Employees at both the Tilton and Watseka locations of Stock and Field, commonly known by its former name of “Big R”, confirmed to VermilionCountyFirst.com that all of the company’s locations are holding liquidation sales and are set to close.
Multiple efforts to reach company officials in Minnesota went unanswered, however the company’s president, Matt Whebbe, posted an announcement online Monday morning saying the company has filed for bankruptcy.
Under the Big R name, the company was headquartered in Watseka and had 26 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. It was started in 1964 by businessmen Bill and Pat Crabtree. It was later sold to Jerry Gibbs, and then to Whebbe in August of 2018. A year later, the company changed its name to Stock and Field in order to state what contents the stores had, according to a company announcement at the time.
Last June, a Boston-based private equity firm loaned the company $60 million to provide for additional working capital.
Stock and Field has two locations in Vermilion County–both on Route 1. The Danville store is at 3363 N. Vermilion St., just north of Liberty Lane, while the Tilton store is located at 1625 Georgetown Road, across from County Market.
(Note: there are other stores throughout the country, including in Illinois, that continue to use the “Big R” branding. Those stores are owned by other individuals.)
