One of Britain’s leading McCormick dealerships – HJR Agri (Oswestry) Ltd – has expanded into west Cheshire and north Staffordshire. The business took on McCormick for west Shropshire and mid-Wales a year after it was formed in 2008 by colleagues Terry Hughes, who leads the sales activities, his brother Alan Hughes and Melfyn Jones, who run the service side of the business, and Andy Roberts, whose domain is the parts operation and sundries showroom. In 2013, the company expanded into north Wales with McCormick, from just west of Chester to Conwy in a territory that borders the area covered by Anglesey-based PGF Agri. Now, the dealership’s McCormick territory extends further east to Crewe and Newcastle-under-Lyme, taking in west Cheshire, where it borders a territory looked after by Barlows Agri from a new base at Marton near Macclesfield, and north Staffordshire down to Market Drayton. “This area is very accessible from our Oswestry base, where we have five experienced and McCormick-trained personnel to call on for workshop and on-farm repairs and routine servicing,” points out HJR Agri managing director Terry Hughes. “As far as sales activities are concerned, I’ll be sharing the extended territory with our north Wales salesman Rob Owen, helping farmers and contractors find the most suitable McCormick tractor for their needs.” HJR Agri’s MD also welcomes the new agreement: “Expansion is always useful for any business so being able to extend our McCormick customer base is a great opportunity for us,” he says. “We already have the resources to serve our extended area well in terms of parts, servicing and repairs, and we all look forward to welcoming farmers as new customers in the area.” Rob, who lives in Ruthin, joined the business 12 months ago and has been visiting farms in the new area to introduce himself, the dealership and the McCormick range. “Becoming a machinery salesman has involved a very steep learning curve but having worked on farms and for a contractor I bring hands-on, practical experience that can be helpful to farmers unsure about the best tractor size and features for their needs,” he says. Picture: HJR’s northern salesman, Rob Owen (left) with managing director Terry Hughes.