Top 10 economist in the world
Address:
Menard Dr.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
U.S.A.
Telephone: ()
Fax: ()
Statistics:
Private Company
Incorporated:
Employees:7,
Sales:$4 billion ( est.)
NAIC: Other Building Material Dealers
Key Dates:
John Menard begins reselling lumber as a side business to pole barn building.
Menard, Inc. is founded.
Company enters Chicago market as part of expansion drive.
Menard ranks 44th on Forbesmagazine's list of largest private U.S. companies.
Company enters into direct competition with the two largest home improvement chains in several key markets.
Opens th store.
Company History:
Menard, Inc. is the nation's third largest home improvement supply chain. A rarity among retailers, Menards (as the company's stores are called) also operates its own manufacturing facility. The cost-saving measure is representative of founder and owner John Menard's penchant for keeping prices low.
The regional chain faces increased market pressure as Home Depot and Lowe's continue to build their presence in the Midwest.
Founder's Values, a Bedrock for Business: ss
John Menard, the eldest of eight children, worked his way through the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire by building pole barns with some fellow students.
In college, he majored in business, math, and psychology, but his work philosophy was influenced by his upbringing. 'Menard remains a farm boy at heart, anchored by a few simple beliefs,' the National Home Center News (NHCN) stated in a profile. His parents, both teachers and dairy farmers, instilled in him 'the principles of frugality and, in Menard's words, common sense.'
Alert to opportunity, Menard expanded the boundaries of his lates construction business.
He began buying wood in bulk and then resold it to builders scrambling to find materials on the weekends: a time when lumberyards typically were closed.
Menards marcellano biography of george hamilton Menards shelved better quality product lines in areas such as kitchen and bath; more employees walked the sales floor. In , a new ,square-foot format was introduced although the department store-like design was retained. Menards also upped its advertising expenditures and offered its first private label credit card that year.In , Menard added to his building supply line. A decade later, when the building supplies generated a majority of his revenues, Menard sold the construction end of the business. He founded Menard, Inc. in , just in time to catch the building wave of do-it-yourselfers.
Deviating from the standard lumberyard format, Menards stores featured wide aisles, tile floors, and easy to reach shelves--a design similar to mass merchandisers.
During the s and s, Menard opened building supply stores in a five-state area: Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota. Menard snapped up vacated retail sites, which were inexpensive but well-situated. Seconds, overstocks, and closeout items were peppered among the product mix. By , Menards ranked 15th among the top home improvement chains, with estimated sales from the 34 outlets approaching the half billion mark.
Early s Expansion
To support the growing company, in the early s Menard opened a huge warehouse/distribution center and a manufacturing plant. Menard moved into Nebraska in , the Chicago area in , and Indiana and Michigan in The economic downturn in the early s slowed home turnover and boosted sales on the home repair and improvement front.
By the fall of , 12 Menards stores served suburban Chicago and were in direct competition with the unit, Illinois-based Handy Andy, as well as Builders Square and HomeBase.
Menards marcellano biography of george michael: Menard, Inc. is the nation's third largest home improvement supply chain. A rarity among retailers, Menards (as the company's stores are called) also operates its own manufacturing facility. The cost-saving measure is representative of founder and owner John Menard's penchant for keeping prices low.
Anticipating the arrival of Atlanta's Home Depot, Menard announced a major expansion drive. The company planned to open up to 18 additional stores in three different formats.
The regional chain ended with a total of 88 stores and $ billion in revenues. The $9 billion home improvement supply leader, Home Depot, entered the Chicago market in September
John Menard, meanwhile, based on a net worth of close to $ million, qualified for the Forbes Four Hundred list.
His personal wealth allowed him to finance a longtime hobby. In , along with two friends, Menard bought a $65, racer which Herm Johnson drove in the Indianapolis Team Menard cars became perennial entries in the event; Menard spent millions on car and engine development. In , Menard qualified two out of the three cars he sponsored for the Indy and placed 8th and 20th.
'He'll need to do a lot better than that to succeed in Chicago,' wrote Frank Wolfe for Forbes magazine in June
By the end of , Menard operated outlets and produced $ billion in sales. The company's rapid growth in the Chicago area played a significant role in the demise of Handy Andy and Courtesy Home Centers according to NHCN. The privately held Menard funded its growth through cash flow generated by the stores: 'That cash flow is sustained by aggressive cost containment policies that come directly from its president, whom vendors will describe as `tenacious,' `frightening,' `entrepreneurial' and `paranoid,' all in the same breath,' reported NHCN in May
Keeping Prices Low: Mids
Opinion aside, sole owner John Menard's business practices served the company well: Menard, Inc.
claimed the 44th spot on the Forbes list of the largest private U.S. companies in and held third place in the home improvement industry.
In spite of the company's ever increasing size, Menard retained the flavor of a family business. One of John Menard's brothers, a daughter, a son, and a nephew held prominent management positions, and day-to-day policies reflected the owner's world view.
Employees put in six-day work weeks, both in stores and at the plus-acre corporate headquarters in Eau Claire. Store workers built gondolas, bulk displays, and checkout counters.
Menards marcellano biography of george harrison Uh-oh. Your browser version is no longer supported! Upgrade to one of these for free: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge.Scrap wood was used for store signage, and carpet remnants covered displays. The company's buyers played hard ball with suppliers when negotiating allowances, discounts, and price increases.
Menard tenaciously held to his low price strategy, even in head-to-head competition with super-sized Home Depot. Even when it meant slim margins.
Staple products such as studs and paint sold consistently below Home Depot's price, sometimes just by a penny.
Conversely, Menards was trying to upgrade its image in order to draw in more middle and upper income shoppers. In the familiar ,square-foot format, Menards stores were reminiscent of s discount stores, but in upscale neighborhoods the company needed to cater to customers more concerned with quality than cost.
Menards shelved better quality product lines in areas such as kitchen and bath; more employees walked the sales floor. In , a new ,square-foot format was introduced although the department store-like design was retained. Menards also upped its advertising expenditures and offered its first private label credit card that year.
Changes aside, the dominant advertising theme remained the same: 'Save Big Money at Menards.'
Menards stores, furthermore, were considered a rarity among retailers by depending on vertical integration as a cost-saving measure, according to NHCN. The products Menard manufactured in its plant accounted for about a quarter of items sold.
In-house production cut an estimated ten percent off the cost of going through a supplier for a steel door. Among others items, Menards stores offered its own line of Formica countertops, dog houses, and picnic tables. The company had $45 million invested in the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, according to a Forbes article.
Menard's across-the-board control helped him produce highest sales per employee ratio among industry leaders. On the other hand, Menard's penchant for being in charge generated lawsuits from disgruntled ex-employees, as well as customers and suppliers. Few, though, could ignore his bottom line, after-tax profits were $93 million, up 15 percent from , according to Forbes.
The Menards stores produced $ billion in sales on the year.
Pressure Building at Century's Close
The onslaught of larger players had brought other home improvement concerns to their knees while Menard flourished. Kmart closed its five Minneapolis area Builders Square stores when Home Depot entered the market. By contrast, Menard's properties produced higher per square foot sales than Home Depot's Midwest offerings.
Menards marcellano biography of george w
Early in , as a means to finance his education, John Menard, the founder of the company, decided to make his dream a reality. Picking up some building knowledge in the summer of , John worked days on his first pole buildings and nights at a local movie theater while contracting other buildings to keep his crew working.In a February Forbes article, James Samuelson said John Menard attributed part of his success against Home Depot to the sheer size of the industry leader's stores. 'He believes that many do-it-yourselfers, especially the weekenders, feel pressed for time and are put off by Home Depot's cavernous, cement-floored superstores, where the merchandise is stacked high in the air.' Menards offered a comparable number of items, an average of 50, per store, in a smaller space by rapidly restocking shelf items from ample warehouse and stockroom space adjacent to each store.
The Menards chain distinguished itself from Home Depot via advertising as well. While Home Depot's promotions had some glitz, Menards' television ads, shot in the flagship store, had a down-home feel. 'The spots feature a year-old Ray Szmanda, a longtime employee from Eau Claire who simply goes on the air to point out Menards' low prices on hammers and shower curtains and other household gear that appeals to local do-it-yourselfers,' wrote Samuelson.
Menards used its Midwest roots to encourage customer loyalty.
In the latter half of , rumors circulated regarding Menard's future as an independent entity. Some Wall Street analysts suggested the number two home improvement retailer was interested in buying Menard to gain a foothold in the Midwest. North Carolina-based Lowe's Companies Inc.
operated stores and reported sales of $ billion. At the time, number one Home Depot had sales of $ billion. Both of the industry leaders were in expansion drives. John Menard denied the rumors.
Also in , Menard received a fine of $ million for violating Wisconsin laws regulating the disposal of hazardous waste. The company had also been fined in and In other legal action, Menard faced off against fellow contenders in the $ billion home improvement market over advertising claims.
Sears sued Menard and Menard in turn sued Home Depot.
Home Depot entered another one of Menard's Midwest strongholds in The four Milwaukee area Menards stores, thanks to its regional roots, held market leadership. A number of independent retailers also had a strong following among area consumers. Menard planned to add more Milwaukee stores in response to Home Depot's challenge.
In , Home Depot's stores earned nearly $40 billion; Lowe's stores produced sales of about $16 billion; and number three Menard's stores followed behind with $4 billion in sales.
In , number two Lowe's entered the Chicago market with plans to open 20 to 30 stores. Menard had 25 Chicago outlets. Home Depot operated 31 units and was poised to add ten to 20 more.
Lowe's' entry was expected to spark a price war in the nation's largest hardware market. Menard had cut prices ten percent during a price war with Home Depot.
Lowe's pending entry into the Chicago area rekindled some speculation about a merger with Menard, according to a December Crain's Chicago Business article. '`John Menard hasn't been intimidated by Home Depot in the past,' says John Caulfield, executive editor of National Home Center News in New York.
`So, it's unlikely he'll be intimidated by Lowe's. The two companies might not make a good merger fit anywhere, since Menard's lays out its stores differently and focuses on lower-priced goods,' reported H. Lee Murphy.
Menards marcellano biography of george Who is George R. Marcellino? Dr. George Marcellino, Vice President and Co-founder of OptiMedica, is widely. known in the medical community, bringing more than twenty-five years experience. in the medical device industry. He has coordinated a number of ophthalmic. research efforts in areas such as Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) for the.Menard celebrated the opening of its th store in early At the time, Christopher Menard, vice-president of distribution, announced that the company would be phasing out the sale of products made out of wood cut from endangered forests. Menard followed the action of other home improvement dealers such as Home Depot.
Just as the industry had been under pressure by environmentalists, Menard felt the squeeze of market leaders Home Depot and Lowe's. Industry observers generally agreed that only two big chains could thrive in a particular market. Given John Menard's competitive nature it was likely he would fight to hang on to his share of the Midwest home improvement scene.
Principal Competitors: The Home Depot, Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.
Further Reading:
'Builders Square Closing 34 Units,' Chicago Tribune, February 11,
Demaster, Sarah, 'Depot's Entry Did Not Shake Rivals in Milwaukee Market,' National Home Center News, May 3, , pp.
9+.
Freeman, Laurie, 'Menards John Menard,' Advertising Age,June 30, , p. S
'Home Center Mogul Keeps a Low Profile,' St. Paul Pioneer Press,September 3, , p. 7B.
'John Menard,' National Home Center News, December 16, , pp. 57+.
Klobuchar, Jim, 'Disabled Girl's Dad Loses Job by Building House with Ramps,' Star Tribune (Minneapolis), June 3, , p.
3B.
McAuliffe, Bill, 'FYI: The Menards Guy Is Calling It Quits,' Star Tribune (Minneapolis), November 17, , p. 1B.
'Menard Has No Trouble Playing with the Giants,' National Home Center News, May 20, , p.
'Menard Prepares for Aggressive Chicago Push,' Building Supply Home Centers, October , p.
'Menards Hops onto Eco Bandwagon,' National Home Center News, February 21, , p.
4.
'Menards Is Fined for Mishandling Hazardous Waste,' Star Tribune (Minneapolis),December 11, , p. A6.
Moore, Janet, 'Menard Discounts Speculation About Buyout by Lowe's,' Star Tribune (Minneapolis),September 11, , p. D1.
Murphy, H. Lee, 'Lowe's Builds for Area Expansion: Hardware Retailer Aims to Nail Menard's, Home Depot,' Crain's Chicago Business,December 20, , p.
3.
'The NHCN Top A Five-Year Perspective: Menard Inc.,' National Home Center News, May 25, , p.
'The NHCN Top A Five-Year Perspective: Menard Inc.,' National Home Center News, May 24, , p.
'No. 3: Menard,' National Home Center News, May 26, , p.
Reusse, Patrick, 'The Right Stuff,' Twin Cities Business Monthly,August
Samuelson, James, 'Tough Guy Billionaire,' Forbes,February 24, , pp.
64,
Wolfe, Frank, 'Rearview Mirror,' Forbes,June 20, , p.
Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. St. James Press,