Menards thinking big

“How big is too big?” was the question asked by industry experts last year, when the first giant of this kind opened in the Mooresville/Camby area south of Indianopolis in early summer. In the meantime, several more such stores have now opened in the Chicago suburban area.
The first Menards giant in excess of 20 000 m² opened in Mooresville/Camby.
The new Menards superstores bring timber inside, which is one major difference. More space is also devoted to household appliances, a relatively new category that puts it into competition with Lowe’s, America’s second largest retailer of major appliances behind Sears. Home Depot also is expanding its recent addition of appliances. Neither Home Depot nor Menards, however, devotes as much space to this category as does Lowe’s. Another feature of the new Menards stores is the greater area set aside for kitchen and bathroom displays, but otherwise they are remarkably similar to all its smaller units.
Menards is for the first time bringing timber inside in its new larger stores.
Menards has not been stocking green goods (live plants) so far, though both its larger competitors seem to have ever-expanding garden shops. Home Depot is even experimenting with a stand-alone garden centre. Menards’ outdoor landscape department, on the other hand, carries only such items as garden ornaments, patio blocks, rock, bark and soil. Other items still merchandised outside include decking, trusses, shingles and treated timber.
A new feature is the considerably expanded display area for kitchens.
Like its two big competitors, the firm stresses the services available to its customers. These include:
Free computerised project planning
Free design-it centre, which includes kitchen planning
Computerised paint colour matching
Self-service price scanners located throughout the store
Commercial/contractor sales specialists
Key cutting
Seven-day delivery service
A price-matching service, offering eleven per cent off items available more cheaply from a competitor
Special orders
While Menards is opening ever larger stores, Home Depot is now downsizing stores to between 7 500 and 9 000 m² for smaller markets. Menards differs more substantially from Home Depot than from Lowe’s. The group uses conventional low-profile gondolas in the majority of its outlets, reserving warehouse racking for the far end of stores. This gives it a more open, female-friendly profile than either of the other two, though Lowe’s warehouse image is made less formidable by an aggressive…