Ground breaks on new Orscheln location

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Speaking to a small crowd gathered in front of a massive mud patch filled with standing water, Nick Orscheln and other representatives from Orscheln Farm and Home expressed their excitement for the new location of Seward's Orscheln store behind them. Even during the groundbreaking ceremony just north of Walmart on Sept. 10, done after excavation on the plot already began, Orscheln couldn't escape the water that frequented its original Seward location.

Corporate, district and store representatives from Orscheln explained how the new location came to fruition.

The company determined the store needed to move from its original location, in a floodplain along Highway 15 just south of South Street. Nick Orscheln said the corporate office had eyes on a location further south, and then ultimately decided to buy a tract of land in June in the Walmart subdivision. That gave the company, as well as its contracted design and construction team, time to put together a second design for the store that increased space from the original location by 25%.

“It's time to showcase what we want to be to your community,” Orscheln said.

Matt Cook, the project manager, said there was ample designing on the project. This store will be one of Orscheln's first to use the second store-design prototype. The second prototype is an interior layout design different than other Orscheln stores.

The location will not have its own dedicated turn off of Highway 15, so customers will have to turn into the Walmart lot in order to access the Orscheln parking lot.

Dwight Isringhausen, Orscheln Regional Director of Operations, said the Seward location will be larger than the Crete location that just opened earlier in the summer. The additional space will largely be dedicated to sporting goods.

Current Seward store manager Evan Crouch, who also stood next to a shovel during the groundbreaking, said he's looking forward to opening the location.