Menards or Home Depot….

Oh, I don’t know anything but I do like walking through the aisles of Home depot a bit more so then Menards. However I do go to both places, always looking for the clearance bargain stuff.

queenswake wrote:

Cons:
1) As nice as their yard is to go pick up your lumber, a lot of the time I need to kind of be with the wood as I’m figuring out how much and of what size to get. A lot of times I am just not ready to stand at the project desk to list out what I need.

Was just in Menards lumberyard yesterday and see that they now have QR codes on all (?) of their products out there. You scan it with your camera and it directs you right to the product online. You can then order and pay for it right there without going back into the store. Pretty genius idea…

jake47 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>queenswake wrote:</div>
Cons:
1) As nice as their yard is to go pick up your lumber, a lot of the time I need to kind of be with the wood as I’m figuring out how much and of what size to get. A lot of times I am just not ready to stand at the project desk to list out what I need.

Was just in Menards lumberyard yesterday and see that they now have QR codes on all (?) of their products out there. You scan it with your camera and it directs you right to the product online. You can then order and pay for it right there without going back into the store. Pretty genius idea…

Was there a option for straight or crooked or twisted? I can only imagine what they would load up if you didn’t pick it.

I’ll go to either store to pick up this and that. But when I need quantities for projects it’s always an independent supply house. Particularly when it come to lumber. I’ll always get better quality dimensional lumber at an independent yard. Plumbing/ electrical supplies, same thing, better pricing, no huge markup on fittings that is usually the case at big box stores

As a Contractor we use both.
They are what they are but my business could not survive without them.
Tools are bought at Thomas or Acme.

BTW my local lumber yard is lower in price (Luan at Menards $32, BFS $26 for example) and if for some reason Menards or HD is cheaper he will match the price.

My only pet peeve is that not all stores are set up the same so I can waste time walking around the store looking for items but the apps they have make it easier.

Drive by both in the middle of the day and you’ll see Menards absolutely packed while there might be 10 cars/trucks at Home Depot.

That should tell you something.

I myself prefer Menards. There’s employees all over the place and you actually have a person at the register to check you out. Hate the self checkouts..

Makes me think of Ron Swanson telling a Lowe’s employee “I know more than you.”

I hope someone from Home Depot and Menards marketing are reading this, maybe both store will get better.

Before I retired and move up north, I lived in St. Louis, MO. for fifteen years, Menards didn’t service the area. Home Depot and Lowes were the big box stores. Home Depot was my choice. Home Depot had one store in the area that was special. It carried high end products that were not available anyplace. Most of them were order in but if you wanted wool carpet, built in expresso machines, Aga range, things that you see in magazines, there was a display and a sales person to help you. My loved the place. Both HD and Lowes were bright airy stores.

I retired to northern MN, Baxter is my closest big box lumber. Enter the Walmart effect on big box lumber and Home Depots expansion to the north, take out half the lights, and reduce the staff to nearly none existent. I have also shopped the Query HD and Fridley Menards in the last month they are the same.

Dark and devoid of help. I have a hard time shopping in the dark, maybe I am just old and my eyes are dim.

I typically have better luck at Menards because there is someone to ask and they generally have the lights on. The store’s stock is always in flux and I don’t want wander around looking for an that is at the top of a display on a hook.

I hope someone from Home Depot and Menards marketing are reading this, maybe both store will get better.

Before I retired and move up north, I lived in St. Louis, MO. for fifteen years, Menards didn’t service the area. Home Depot and Lowes were the big box stores. Home Depot was my choice. Home Depot had one store in the area that was special. It carried high end products that were not available anyplace. Most of them were order in but if you wanted wool carpet, built in expresso machines, Aga range, things that you see in magazines, there was a display and a sales person to help you. My wife loved the place. Both HD and Lowes were bright airy stores.

I retired to northern MN, Baxter is my closest big box lumber. Enter the Walmart effect on big box lumber and Home Depots expansion to the north, take out half the lights, and reduce the staff to nearly none existent. I have also shopped the Query HD and Fridley Menards in the last month they are the same.

Dark and devoid of help. I have a hard time shopping in the dark, maybe I am just old and my eyes are dim.

I typically have better luck at Menards because there is someone to ask and they generally have the lights on. The store’s stock is always in flux and I don’t want wander around looking for an item that is at the top of a display on a hook.

Get off my lawn!

When Home Depot founders Markus and Blank were booted shortly after they came into the MN and WI markets and Nardelli became CEO is when they started to follow the Walmart/Kohls model. Fewer employees, cheaper employees. Stores not given any autonomy to stock items that cater to local needs.
Now Marvin Ellison an exec under Nardelli is the CEO of Lowes.
Both Menards and HD have their bad and even worse stores along with a few good ones.

Depends on the store

In Brainerd, homedepot is better than menards it feels like your walking in a insane asylum, the help is clueless and just ignores you.

Big box stores are meant to have a ton of options at lower prices. They skimp on the employee knowledge and product quality. That is there whole business model.

I despise Home Depots self check outs. I have been in there on a couple occasions when three or more employees had to come and try to get me checked out because the self checkout wouldn’t work.

Pretty stupid, not to mention a waste of everyones time especially mine. I mentioned a couple times to just check me out at one of the regular lanes, but oh hell no. I’m not even sure if they even have a lane other than the self chekout now days, as I haven’t been in there for years.

WS

Charles wrote:

Depends on the store

In Brainerd, homedepot is better than menards it feels like your walking in a insane asylum, the help is clueless and just ignores you.

This. The home depot up here is pretty good. I usually go there so I don’t have to deal with the rebates. Bought a new dishwasher last year from Menards… Still waiting on my $90 gift card to show up…

Home Depot in Baxter has better lumber than any of the local yards hands down. If you like picking thru other peoples picks have at it. Pure junk lumber at Baxter Menards. I do buy some from Menards but very carefully. I’ve always thought of Menards as a big rummage sale.

3rdtryguy wrote:

Home Depot in Baxter has better lumber than any of the local yards hands down. If you like picking thru other peoples picks have at it. Pure junk lumber at Baxter Menards. I do buy some from Menards but very carefully. I’ve always thought of Menards as a big rummage sale.

Agreed. I like the Baxter HD. Can’t stand the Menards. A big rummage sale is accurate. At HD, I like that if you need a few boards of lumber or sheet of plywood that it’s easy to get by having all of that stuff in it’s own area and door of the store. Last time I went to Menards looking for a couple 2x4s (didn’t matter if they were straight) I was completely lost as they moved all of their lumber outdoors. Very inconvenient and won’t be going back.

The self checkout at HD as the employees just stare at you is really annoying and pointless, but over at the lumber section is employee checkout.

rjthehunter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charles wrote:</div>
Depends on the store

In Brainerd, homedepot is better than menards it feels like your walking in a insane asylum, the help is clueless and just ignores you.

This. The home depot up here is pretty good. I usually go there so I don’t have to deal with the rebates. Bought a new dishwasher last year from Menards… Still waiting on my $90 gift card to show up…

You don’t have to mail in the rebates. I think that is what Menards is hoping doesn’t happen? Nobody has time these days to actually find an envelope and a stamp😃
We spent around 2K on laminate flooring so you know dam well I was looking forward to my rebate. You can actually check the status of your rebate online. Conveniently they lost my $200 rebate but every other little one was there. Luckily I printed my receipts at the store and emailed the rebate place and they made it right. From now on I take a pic of the receipt before I send if it’s a bigger chunk of change.

I’ve been involved in residential construction since 1973. Mostly custom homes. I moved out of state a year ago in November. Started our new house in November building myself. The bulk of the materials has come from the local yard but occasionally, if I want to work on the weekends, it means a 20 minute drive to Manards or HD to stay productive. Typically, I don’t buy framing lumber or sheet goods there unless it’s a foam product. I’ve been trained that all lumber that comes out if these big box stores is crap, but I can honestly say, that the 4 or 5 times I’ve had to pick up some lumber, it’s been as straight as anything I’ve gotten from anywhere in the past. Just yesterday, I needed 10 2×6 104.625 studs and 6 2×4 104.625 studs. I took everything off the top of both open stacks. No sorting needed. With that said, Menards is closer for me, so Menards it is if I need something..

HD and Menards are the two large home improvement stores nearest to me. Some things I will not buy at Menards and some things I will not get from HD. I hated the old Apply Valley Menards. It was small and never had what I wanted in stock. So I would go to HD over Menards. Now I go to Menards over HD with the new store. It all depends on what I need.

UGH…. The ONLY reason I got to Home Depot is because I bought into the Ryobi 1+ 18V system – which I LOVE, but it’s the only big box store that carries them, that I know of. I could order online but I do like to go in an touch/feel them first, at that point I just buy them.

Ordered some shiplap from Home Depot for my main-level bathroom project last year. took 4 different shipments to get the correct quantity. the amount per package listed online vs what came in a package was way off and they couldn’t resolve it.

Those in St Cloud/Waite Park who use Menards, your spoiled. Menards in Baxter, not nearly as helpful and knowledgeable. Home Depot, no matter where they are, Maui, St Cloud, Baxter… if I need an orange bucket… maybe see me there.

Lowes has everything you need because no one shops there.

Menards has upped their quality some over the past 10 years or so. I would say pre-2010 (thereabouts) they only really had cheap off-shore crap. They now carry both quality and crap.

Menards lumber (as noted above) is often “bent or curved” … selecting can take time.

Home depot is great for shopping online and picking up at the store. I have had good luck with a wide range of battery and plug-in Ryobi tools. They may not be professional-grade, but for occasional use, they work fine and last forever.

our menards, basically 19 out of 20 employees you ask where something is, they know it. but I also don’t use it much as the menards app is pretty much awesome at showing you where anything is almost perfectly.

even without 11% menards is usually a bit cheaper on materials. Obviously their power tool selection leaves a bit to be desired but I can get those from Decco reasonably priced.

Menards is also nostalgic for me. the 2nd stairs to the 2nd level, the aisles of candy and snacks. my dad used to let us grab a bag of snowcaps as we walked by the aisle. my little ones love the lit up christmas displays.

I have no ill will against home depot, I just prefer menards. Lowes, i’m not sure i’ve ever asked the first person I saw where something was and not have them find someone else to ask. infuriating.

I absolutely hate HD and really scratch my head when someone says they prefer HD over Menards. I don’t see the positives of that store. At all.

Usually it’s “They sell Milwaukee”. Cool, bro….So does Acme and literally dozens of online retailers for less money.

Sorry, I’m triggered….

I’ll add to my rant…just a few things off the top of my head from a trip there today.

They don’t sell engineers tapes (tape measures showing tenths)…

They don’t sell any form of grade rods for using with a laser/transit.

The biggest pipe wrench they carry is a homeowner size 24″….of which they had one, and only one on the shelf.

I needed (20) 3/4″ hitch style pins, they had three…So I needed to substitute them with 17 more 6″x3/4″ grade 8 bolts…they had zero…and don’t even stock them?

Their motto is “How Doers Get More Done”

It should be “Where The Pros Get Pissed Off”

I’m going to petition my employer for a Menard’s card. Many of our things we get through vendors, but in a pinch I need to get the right (or even close to right) tools, fittings or hardware in a hurry.

Carry on

Just go to Acme Tool and quit messing with the hardware store.

Dutchboy wrote:

Just go to Acme Tool and quit messing with the hardware store.

We use them along with other vendors, but when a crew is down and in need of something, waiting for a courier or driving across town for it yourself costs a ton of money.

Down time is expensive. It’s not as expensive as re-work or injuries, but it’s right up there. A manager worth their salt finds other productive things for people to do, but switching gears and reassigning tasks in a hurry isn’t productive either.

I recently decided I will no longer go to home Depot for anything after seeing their corporate training tool regarding white privilege. I’m sure you can find it with a basic Google search. Sad to see companies pushing this divisive material and pretending it’s in the name of equality.