CAZENOVIA — On April 28, Empire Tractor, Inc. will close its Route 20 location, which was operated by the Lucas family as J.C. Lucas and Sons for more than a hundred years before merging with the company in 2001.
Empire Tractor, which also has stores in Waterloo, Atlanta, Batavia, Cortland, Watertown, and Canton, is a full-service agricultural equipment dealer offering products from New Holland, Kubota, Kioti, Landoll, Kinze, Oxbo, SIP, Pik-Rite, Great Plains, Unverferth, EZ Trail, Woods, LandPride, Dixie Chopper, STIHL, and more.
Although Empire Tractor refers to its Route 20 branch as “Empire Tractor Cazenovia,” the dealership is actually in the neighboring Town of Nelson.
“Any time a business closes in a surrounding town it’s not good for the community,” said Cazenovia Town Supervisor Bill Zupan. “It’s been a multi-generational business, so it’s very sad to see it close.”
According to Empire Tractor President Tim Call, the decision to close the branch — which he said usually employs around 10 people — stemmed from supply chain issues, lack of inventory, the loss of Case IH tractors and equipment, and difficulty hiring and retaining employees, especially service technicians.
“Closing a store is never easy,” said Call. “After carefully analyzing the current circumstances of the dairy economy and the prediction of a recession in the farm economy, we couldn’t get the sales and profits we needed to sustain the business. We will continue to cover that area out of the Cortland location.”
According to the Empire Tractor website, J.C. Lucas and Sons traces its roots back to William F. Lucas, who arrived in the Cazenovia area in the mid-1800s and, according to records, was selling farm equipment by 1891.
“Family story is my great-grandfather W.F. Lucas sold a mower to the Marshall family two days after my grandfather J.C. Lucas was born in 1891,” said Jim Lucas, one of the store’s former owners/managers. “So, we say 1891, but it goes back [to even] before 1891. We have not researched it.”
The equipment dealership was passed down in the family through multiple generations and was taken over by Jim and his brother, Bob, in 1979.
In 1980, after outgrowing its location on Maple Road, the business relocated to its present site, and in 1984, the Lucases opened a second store in Cortland.
“Bob and I acquired the International Harvester dealership in Cortland in 1984,” said Jim. “In 2001, our Cazenovia and Cortland stores were merged into Empire Tractor along with a New Holland store [Empire Tractor] acquired in Cortland.”
Jim said that in 2019, as he and Bob planned for retirement, they stepped down as owners of Empire Tractor to become employees.
Marty Carpenter, a long-time employee of Lucas Cortland and Empire Tractor, has managed the Route 20 store for the last year. He also manages the Cortland location.
“[We have] enjoyed the past 50 years plus of [our] lives serving the ag, lawn, and garden customers in the community,” said Jim. “With this closing comes the end of an era of 132 years of the Lucas family business in our community. We look forward to the next venture at our Route 20 facility, hoping that another business will soon come in and provide jobs and a viable service. We are very thankful for the support that our customers have given our family over the years.”
Nelson Supervisor Jim Cunningham said the news of the loss of one of Nelson’s longstanding community-minded businesses was sad and unfortunate.
“They have been a good partner and such a great business within our town for as long as I can remember,” he said. “. . . It really takes the wind out of my sails as I have personally purchased equipment and parts for many years there, and I have always been met with such friendly and informative staff. I cannot tell you how many times they helped me keep my Farmall M tractor alive. They have done a lot for the community and will be missed.”
Cunningham also acknowledged some of the challenges facing the broader local business community today.
“Our town lowered taxes by over eight percent last year; however, county, schools, and many other service districts continue to place pressure on local business, especially as recent inflation impacts budgets,” he said. “So many people these days have changed their shopping habits, often sitting at home shopping on the Internet. I do not think people connect the impact of not shopping locally until we experience the loss of such a long-standing local business.”
To learn more about Empire Tractor, visit empiretractor.com.
