I was wavering between giving three or four stars, and settled on four, because the store does have a great deal of variety, seems to be aimed at the farmer and those of us who have farms, and the prices appear to be quite reasonable. For example, I have German Shepherds and require a high quality dog food, so I have settled on Taste of the Wild, a grain free dog food with meat as the primary ingredient, and only a 30% fat content. I had been buying my food from Tractor Supply, but when Rural King opened, I have been getting it from them ever since, as the price is lower.
However, the reason I almost went with three stars instead of four has to do with their policy regarding firearms. I appreciate the fact that they opt to sell guns, but they are going about it all wrong. The other day, I asked to look at a revolver sitting in the display case. The employee took out the gun and I looked it over. I cocked the hammer back to feel the action a little, as any prospective buyer would, but was unable to lower the hammer due to the trigger lock. The employee explained that he was not allowed to remove it, thus a buyer, as myself, was unable to actually examine the gun. I couldn't open the cylinder or feel the action at all. A person buying a firearm needs to be able to look the product over, and having the trigger lock in place prevents that. As you can imagine, it would be utterly impossible to examine a semi-auto pistol with this lock in place, as you would be unable to action the slide or anything. As a final insult, the employee stated that he would have to walk me out to my car if I decided to buy a gun there. Let's bear in mind that a lot of us have concealed carry, and I had a loaded .45 Glock on my side. This is a deplorable policy regarding gun sales, something you would not find in a regular gun store. As someone who has been purchasing firearms for over fifty years, I can honestly say that I would never buy a gun from rural king--ever. To be disallowed to reasonably examine a firearm prior to purchase, and then be humiliated by having to have a kid half my age walk with me to my car if I did buy from them, is intolerable.
I will continue to buy my dog food from them because their pricing is very good, and my wife and I also like the various food items that they have. I might mention, also, that the clothing they sell is of pretty nice quality, and decently priced, so they have that going for them. All in all, this is a pretty nice store, and is large, very large. However, until they change their policy on how they treat a potential gun buyer, I can't give them the fifth star. read more