NICK GOSNELL and CHARLES JOHNSTON
Hutch Post
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Market South Hutch Business of the Month for October is Wichita Tractor. Manager Jesse McCullough is keeping the family tradition alive.
"I was kind of born into it," McCullough said. "My grandfather started the company back in 1971. Last year in December was our 50th year in business. We're going on 51 years this year. I kind of grew up in the shop as a technician, wrenching on things when I wasn't playing baseball throughout the years. Grew up a little bit, went to college and started selling for Dad in '09, doing the tractors and the Bad Boy Mowers down there in the Wichita platform. At that time we had owned a smaller dealership up here in Pleasantview for a matter of years. 2015 comes along and we approach Polaris for some off-road opportunities in the side-by-side world, which they granted us December of 2015. That, then prompted a new location, which we built here in South Hutch, moved the whole facility and all of our people over here and we've been growing ever since."
The South Hutch location deals mainly in the Polaris off road equipment and the Bad Boy mowers.
"The off road world, now that I manage the South Hutch store, is my bread and butter," McCullough said. "I eat, sleep and breathe everything this store does."
If you want an off-road vehicle, Wichita Tractor's South Hutch location is the place you can get it.
"Out of this store in South Hutch, we are the largest Polaris RZR dealership in this state and we are the second largest Ranger utility dealer in the state," McCullough said. "We're a pretty big volume mover out of this store."
The South Hutch store runs fairly lean with six employees and COVID forced them to run leaner on inventory for awhile than they did beforehand, but that is starting to swing back the other way.
"Pre-orders have kind of slowed down," McCullough said. "We're getting a lot more stocking inventory. You don't have to preorder and wait six months on the majority of it. We're now seeing a steady influx of stock stuff."
Parts availability for repairs depends a lot on the age of the vehicle.
"There are some challenging pieces where you get some age on a machine, ten plus years out, you can be pretty limited," McCullough said. "There are dealerships that will not work on anything that's ten plus years old, due to limited availability to get parts. That business is business we welcome, as we're not afraid to work on the older stuff."
The goal is not high pressure, but caring for customers and treating them as part of the family and that they are here for them.
Wichita Tractor's Polaris dealership is at 309 S Main St in South Hutchinson.