Clayton — The Olive family doesn’t need as many tractors anymore. And they don’t think many western Johnston County residents do either.

So the family, which owns Olive Farm Supply near Clayton, is holding an auction Saturday to get rid of some farm equipment and store merchandise.

The store isn’t closing, but the auction is a response to Johnston’s changing agriculture industry, said Nora Olive, 77. “The farmers are gone,” she said. “There’s just not many farmers around anymore. Many of the farmers have retired, sold out or died. ... It’s a whole different world.”

The auction will feature a few tractors, other farm equipment and everything from hand and garden tools to nails and paint.

Nora Olive used to run a fertilizer business from her home. The family store, which has been on U.S. 70 Business for decades, used to sell a lot of equipment to farmers.

But with western Johnston County’s growth, a lot of newcomers aren’t looking for tractors, Olive said. Now the store might sell a handful of nails to a new local.

In the 1970s, the Olive family used to plant about 350 acres of corn near the store, said Jody Olive, 55, Nora’s son. Last year, the family planted about 15 acres.

The Olives used to grow tobacco too. “Those days are gone,” Nora Olive said.

The family still raises hogs, and a passerby might spot a loose chicken wandering near the store grounds.

“Sometimes you got to change with the times,” Jody Olive said in the store last week, surrounded by dusty merchandise on dusty shelves. “We got houses around here now. We don’t have as many farms. They grow houses now.”

Jody Olive is taking the reins of the store’s day-to-day operations. His mother has run the store for years. His father, Richard, died in 2006.

As if a shift in Johnston’s economic landscape hadn’t hurt the store enough, Nora Olive said the U.S. 70 bypass of Clayton had caused business to suffer. The new road, which is set to open this year, intersects U.S. 70 Business near the Olive store. Some people might think the store is closed during construction, she said.

“That bypass has made a difference,” Nora Olive said.

The auction will start at 10 a.m. Saturday.