The folks you meet at Menards

[GasGuzzler]

I usually find a great selection of massively warped, splintered, or knotty boards.

My town is rare in that we have a fairly large Home Depot and DO NOT have a Lowe's across the street like every other location in North Texas. We have an Atwoods and a Tractor Supply too but no Lowe's. My Dad favors the Lowe's near him over Home Depot but I am much more comfortable in HD since it's what we have. I go to Atwoods when they have a sale on a specific item and I go to Tractor Supply at the very last resort as their prices are 30% more than everywhere else. I will use McCoy's or one of the locally owned privately run hardware stores before I go to TS. Joe Walter Lumber is the only place I can find some things for my built in 1971 house because they've had those items in stock since then!

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

I've seen or maybe even been to Menards somewhere in my travels. I lived in MN for two years - do they have them there? Or maybe CO where I was born & raised?

I moved to VT 39 years ago and the little hardware stores were Aubuchon's, and the big lumber yard and tool place was Moore's. And don't forget Agway. Moore's went out of business probably 30 years ago when Home Depot announced they would be coming to town and there is a car dealership in that space now. And Aubuchon's just recently got bought up by Ace HW. Agway is still plodding along. Sears is now a grocery store, and their external auto center building is now Buffalo Wild Wings. K-Mart is also a grocery store now. Lowes came to town maybe 20 years ago, but they built a fair distance away from HD. And I think we have more Tractor Supply stores than Starbucks. We don't have Arby's or Wendy's - we had both when I moved here but both franchises were owned by the same guy who went bankrupt. Our state capital city (Montpelier) is the only one in the U.S. that does not have a McDonalds.

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

Well, I stand corrected about where Moore's was...

That address is more or less where Home Depot is now. I remember picking up that tape for $2 when they were liquidating before closing the store. I can't recall what the place was that is now part of a car dealership, but there was some other building supply outfit there on Route 7 in South Burlington near the Shelburne town line.

 

[Pyromike]

Menards is closest to me w/ Lowes a close 2nd. Depends on what direction we're headed. We collect the Menards rebates and after a few hundred dollars, we find something to buy.
When we built our home a few years ago we went to HD for pricing. All employees were either high schoolers with absolutely NO knowledge of the products, or retirees in training. We had patience but learned most things on our own.
I CC'd always and sometimes open carried and would see employees at all the stores avoid me when they saw me. My wife didn't believe me until she saw first hand.

 

[Mobuck]

Local Menards employees seem happy that I'm in the store. Different attitudes toward armed citizens.

 

[coachk64]

We have a Menards right close to where I work, and the nearest Home Depot or Lowes is around 15 miles away, so we get a lot of our day-to-day hardware and sometimes groceries at Menards. They also have a couple of really low-end tool brands, so if it is something that I know I'll only need every once in a great while I'll save some money on that. If it's something that I will use frequently I'll go to Home Depot, Farm and Fleet, or FleetFarm and spend more on something higher quality.

To use the Home Depot veteran's discount was initially complicated, as you had to get signed up in their app. But now I just open the app and scan the code in when I check out.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I like to hear about store chains elsewhere I have never heard of like Farm and Fleet or FleetFarm.

 

[blume357]

We had a Moores here in Greenville, SC for a number of years .... most of our downstairs renovation from the early 80's came from there.

 

[Mobuck]

Fleet Farm, Farm and Fleet, Blaines Farm and Fleet, Rural King, Farm & Home(several versions not affiliated with each other), Tractor Supply, Buchheit, Bomgaars, Orshelin (sold most of their stores to TSC and Buchheit 2 years back), Theisen's.
All/most scattered around the MidWest farming country.
Big R and Murdock's show up further west (Colorado & Kansas).
When traveling, my route may be influenced by location of such stores.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

I prefer Rural King to Tractor Supply........the fact Rural King provides free popcorn is awesome.....oh and also the fairly decent gun department....

 

[GasGuzzler]

Atwoods has free popcorn. It's a chain that's only been local for a decade.

Never heard of any of these until this thread: Fleet Farm, Farm and Fleet, Blaines Farm and Fleet, Rural King, Farm & Home, Buchheit, Bomgaars, Theisen's, Big R and Murdock's.

I have only heard of Orshelin because the product line I helped design and produce for my Father In Law's company was sold there so we'd get quarterly orders.

My friend owns a few D&L Farm and Home stores but it's not a chain and is only in Gainesville, Aubry, Celina, McKinney, and Sanger.