Over 80 staffers from across the 65-stores of Bomgaar’s…the family-owned Iowa-based farm and home chain…were in their second day Tuesday of moving everything from the company’s store in Chadron to its new home just across the street. The old store closed Monday at noon with the new location to open later in the week.

Store manager Tim Milner says since the move is a short one…from the north side of 6th Street at Highway 385 to the south side of the street in the south end of the former Pamida-Eisenbarth Motors building, the decision was made to do it in-house using upper level Bomgaar’s employees.

Milner says everyone at Bomgaars is excited about the move because the new building has nearly twice as much floor space…19,2000 square feet compared to about 10,5000…with expanded and better parking, and a centralized 90×200-foot fenced storage area.

Milner says the new inventory for the new store won’t be a lot bigger, it’ll just be more accessible to shoppers, although a few key areas are being increased such as tools and clothing. The DeWalt tool are will see a major increase in offerings.  As for whether the bigger store will bring more employees…Milner says that’s a wait-and-see situation.

Dollar General will continue to lease the north third of the Pamida-Eisenbarth building, with Bomgaar’s to occupy the rest. The current Bomgaar’s store and lot have been sold with the deal scheduled to close February 28th, but the buyer and their plans have not been publicly released.

Bomgaar’s complete a similar move earlier this month…but on an even bigger scale…in Denison, Iowa, where the store moved into a former Wal-Mart building.

The company, founded in Sioux City in 1952, has 65 stores in 6 states…Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming…employing about 1,500 people, and stocking more than 50,000 items in 10 major departments.