Hobbs Equipment History
Larry Hobbs grew up on his family farm in Colt, AR and graduated from Forrest City high school class
of 1962. He fell in love with and married Katheryn Owens. Shortly after came the firstborn of three
sons, Dewayne. Randell would follow and Shannon would come sometime later. The key pieces of Hobbs
Equipment were coming together in the Arkansas farming community of Colt.
Larry continued to farm cotton, soybeans, and wheat but it all changed one day when he purchased a 4020
John-Deere tractor with a Long backhoe attachment. Later he would sell the tractor to one farmer, and
the Long backhoe attachment to another. Larry quickly fell in love with the used equipment trading business
and he and his family worked hard at making this their living while pursuing their dream and passion of
helping others in the farming business.
In the beginning, Hobbs Equipment started operation with two employees in a one hundred and eight square
foot office building, a paint/detail shop, and a small equipment lot tucked in a corner of the property.
At the time, combines cost anywhere from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars and a big tractor would be
rated at sixty to eighty horsepower. A new nineteen foot BW John Deere disc purchased at St. Francis County
Implement cost fourteen hundred dollars.
After a period of time, the Hobbs’ name earned respect and trust in the farming industry circles.
Honesty, following up sales, and good customer service was something realized as paramount. Shannon
adds, “Sometimes you have to eat your words and/or the equipment in this business in delivering on
what you have promised.”
Forty years and six generations later, Hobbs Equipment has expanded in both equipment sales and parts to
become one of the largest new and used equipment dealers in the mid-south and even some exports globally.
The property make up of Hobbs Equipment today is over twenty five thousand square foot under roof and
thirty-five acres of equipment. Larry and his three sons; Dewayne, Randell, and Shannon continue to run
the family operation and they currently have 15 full time employees. Hobbs services farmers from the Dakotas
down through Texas and across to the Carolinas. Hobbs also continues to farm eighteen hundred acres of rice,
beans, wheat, and corn and looks for opportunities to demonstrate the equipment they sell to their customers
on the family farm.
Although changes are sure to come in this business, Hobbs equipment continues to plow ahead into the 21st century.
We gladly accept the challenges that lie ahead and look forward to serving you with customer service based on the
Golden Rule… “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” At Hobbs Equipment we enjoy life, what we do,
and working with special individuals on a day to day basis. Larry adds, “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been
good to us, and if I were doing life over again, I would do just what I do.”
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