Unless you live in the midwestern United States, you might not have heard of Menards, but it is a dominating player in the retail home improvement space. With estimated sales at nearly $12 billion (as of 2021) and a workforce of 45,000 employees, Menards is the third-largest home improvement retail chain in the United States, behind only juggernauts Home Depot and Lowe’s. Menards operates about 350 stores across 15 states.

Unlike the “big two” national chains, Menards remains a privately-owned company, still majority owned by founder John Menard Junior. Since it’s not a public company, its sales figures are not publicly known.

Positioning

If you think Menards is just another big box DIY chain, you’re both right and wrong. On the surface, Menards does possess many similarities, with its variety of hardware and building material, home décor and appliances, and seasonal merchandise. Among its offerings, Menards is probably best known for its lumber, where the company has its roots.

Despite its many similarities, Menards stands apart from the big two chains.

In particular, the average store size for Menards is almost double that of either Home Depot or Lowe’s, spanning about 225,000 square feet. This is even larger than most Walmart Supercenters. Some Menards stores do exist with smaller footprints, but most have been replaced or expanded over the years.

Groceries, anyone?

Also unique, at least in its bigger stores, is that it features a second-level mezzanine featuring some items that are less popular.

Menards positions itself into other retail categories. Its larger stores resemble a warehouse club or supercenter as much as a hardware store.

The retailer first added groceries to most stores in 2007, including frozen foods and everyday essentials like milk and canned goods. Sofas, recliners, mattresses, and other furniture can be found, as well as household products, pet supplies, and some clothing – mostly workwear.

Checkouts

Menards features a unique checkout system that is basically a hybrid between a self-checkout and traditional staffed checkout. There is still a cashier who rings up your merchandise, but shoppers handle their own bagging and payment at the end of the checkout. The receipt and even change spits out there.

Marketing and Brand

Historically, Menards has embraced a color scheme of red, yellow, and orange. Since about the 1990s, Menards has increasingly embraced a green primary color scheme, backed by its legacy yellow, orange, and red. Its logotype remains largely unchanged since inception, with the biggest change dropping a six-leaf clover (or asterisk) in exchange for a swoosh. The logotype is generally presented in white, but some versions appear red, especially adorning older stores.

From day one, Menards positioned itself as having the lowest price. This carries into its long-time slogan… 

“Save Big Money at Menards” has been the company’s slogan since at least 1980. Is features prominently as a company jingle in advertising. The word “Big” carries over to the retailer’s in-store credit card… the “Menards BIG Card.”

The Menards jingle changes at Christmas to “more seasons greetings to you all from Menards.” The store brands its Christmas seasonal section as the Enchanted Forest, displaying its artificial trees as a forest-themed walkway. This was even more impressive many years ago, when it resembled an impressive winter scene often presented as a snow-filled cave.

And, I’d say this perception still holds true today. Most people I talk to say Menards generally does have the lowest prices of the big chains.

The Menards Guy

Equally recognizable as its iconic jingle, Ray Szmanda was the company’s spokesman from 1976 until retiring in 1998. Even then, he still made occasional appearances as “The Menards Guy” post-retirement until 2002, and cartoonized versions continue his legacy today. He became as much a brand as the company’s logo and jingle, developing an almost cult following. Szmanda died in 2018 at the age of 91. His son was a regular cast member of CSI until 2015.

For many years, Menards benefited from being positioned in markets where Home Depot and Lowe’s didn’t exist, but continued fending off increased competition as they encroached into Menards territory.

History

John Menard Jr. got his start in 1958 constructing buildings to finance his college education, hiring additional crews within two years.

Retail operations began when Menard started selling leftover lumber from his building projects. He added other building supplies and opened his first dedicated retail store in 1964, in his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where the company remains headquartered.

The company operated as Menard Cashway Lumber, until the “Cashway Lumber” portion was dropped during the 1980s to reflect its diversified offerings.

By 1976, Menards operated stores in six cities across Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. It expanded in the Dakotas in the 1980s, and operated 36 stores as of 1987. It was then the 15th-biggest home improvement chain, with sales approaching a half-billion dollars. Menards expanded into Nebraska in 1990, Illinois in 1991, and Michigan in 1992. By 1993, the company operated 88 stores with estimated sales of $1.7 billion. Two years later, Menards had 115 stores and was approaching $3 billion in annual sales. Menards continued expanding with a second distribution center in 1998 and its 150th store in 2000. It opened two more distribution centers in 2007.

John Menard Jr/Race Car Driving

Forbes ranked founder John Menard Jr. as the 43rd richest American in 2021 and #104 in the world’s richest people in 2022, with a personal net worth of $16.6 billion. He remains the principal owner of the company he founded.

Menard is an avid race fan, and first sponsored a car for the Indianapolis 500 in 1979 and saw victory in 2019. His son, Paul Menard, competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2007 to 2019.

Conclusion

The tale of Menards is quite impressive. It grew from selling leftover lumber to the 3rd-largest home improvement retailer as a private company without public investment, competing effectively with behemoths Home Depot and Lowes, among other iconic chains such as Ace, True Value, and Do It Best.

This conclude Menards on Company Tales.

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