OXFORD - Construction has started on the Tractor Supply Co. store on Route 26 that will bring more than a dozen jobs to he area.

"It all depends, but it's safe to say we would employ 12 to 17 team members," said Ashley Charlton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee-based Tractor Supply Co.

Tractor Supply, which operates 791 stores in 43 states, including stores in Skowhegan and Scarborough, plans to open a store in Oxford next spring. The store focuses on providing products needed by farmers and ranchers, but also provides merchandise for people who enjoy the rural lifestyle, own pets or cultivate a backyard garden.

Charlton said company officials are in the permitting stages with the town, but ground has been broken on the site for the building, which will be just under 20,000 square feet.

"We hope to have a store there at some point soon. But we're very much in the early stages," Charlton said Tuesday. "If all goes as planned we would hope to have the store up and running by early spring."

Charlton said Tractor Supply started in 1938 as a mail order business. Now the chain is the largest retail farm and ranch store in the United States, she said.

Merchandise includes hardware for farm and lawn maintenance, fencing, pet care supplies and other items. "Our customers aren't just professional farmers and ranchers," she said. "We also cater to a do-it-yourself clientele. ... People will be pleasantly surprised at what we have in Maine."

"We put our stores where our customers are," said Charlton of the location.