Menards is a chain of home improvement centers in the Midwestern United States.
The privately held company, headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has approximately 285 stores in 14 states: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Kentucky. It is the third largest home improvement chain in the United States, behind The Home Depot and Lowe's.
Company history
In 1959, John Menard, Jr. began building post-frame buildings to finance his college education. By the end of 1959, Menard found it necessary to hire extra crews, and to purchase more equipment to keep up with demand. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1962, Menard purchased land in Eau Claire and built an office and shop. The company was founded in 1960 and incorporated in 1962.
In 2007, Menards opened their third and fourth distribution centers in Holiday City, Ohio, and Shelby, Iowa, which are 669,000 square feet (62,200 m2) and 735,000 square feet (68,300 m2), respectively.
Menards Boxes Video
Store structure
In 2007, the 240,000 sq ft (22,000 m2) and larger Menards stores began selling groceries.
Advertising
Menards commercials are accompanied with banjo music played by Gary Shaw of Wisconsin.
Industry ranking
In 2013, Menard, Inc., was ranked 43rd on Forbes' list of "America's Largest Private Companies", with an estimated revenue of USD$8.3 billion.
Controversies
Menards has been involved in a number of incidents concerning environmental regulations, including:
- Wisconsin DNR officials have cited Menards at least 13 times since 1976 for ignoring or violating state regulations related to air and water pollution and hazardous waste.
- In 1994, Wisconsin obtained a civil judgment against Menards for the unlicensed transportation and disposal of ash produced by incinerating "CCA"-treated lumber. Wood treated with CCA contains chromium, copper, and arsenic - both chromium VI and arsenic are categorized by the US EPA as carcinogens. It is considered hazardous waste and requires proper disposal in a licensed landfill. The company was fined $160,000.
- In 1997, John Menard was found using his personal pickup truck to haul plastic bags of chromium and arsenic-laden wood ash to his home for disposal with his household trash. Menard pleaded no contest to felony and misdemeanor charges involving records violations, unlawful transportation, and improper disposal of hazardous waste. Menard and his company were fined $1.7 million for 21 violations.
- In 2003, the Minnesota attorney general charged that Menards manufactured and sold arsenic-tainted mulch in packaging labeled "ideal for playgrounds and for animal bedding." Warning labels from the CCA-treated wood were found in the mulch. The EPA recommends that CCA-treated wood not be converted into mulch. As of 2008 the case was still pending.
- In 2005, Menards agreed to a $2 million fine after Wisconsin DNR officials found a floor drain in a company shop that they believed was used to dump paint, solvents, oil and other waste into a lagoon that fed into a tributary of the Chippewa River. The sanction broke the previous record fine of $1.7 million set by Menard in 1997.
- In 2006, the construction of a $112 million warehouse became a campaign issue in the Wisconsin governor's race. The warehouse was to be erected by filling in a 0.6-acre (0.24 ha) bean field the DNR considered a seasonal wetland used by migrating tundra swans. Menards offered to build a wetland more than twice its size as a replacement, but was rejected by Scott Humrickhouse, a DNR regional director. Humrickhouse said that solution could be used "only when every alternative for saving the original wetland was exhausted." The increasingly heated dispute got considerable media coverage, with a DNR warden calling Menards' general counsel a "legal bitch" and the company threatening to move jobs out of Wisconsin. Tempers seemed to cool after Gov. Jim Doyle arranged $4.2 million in state aid to help the company expand its Eau Claire manufacturing headquarters. Menard had previously contributed $20,000 to Doyle's campaign.
- In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an administrative order against Menards for damaging a stream in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that ran through its property by placing a 66-inch storm sewer pipe on the stream for 1,350 linear feet and filling over top soil.
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