The Biggest Home Store Yet

Menard Inc. (Eau Claire, Wis.), the nation's third-largest home-improvement retailer, is about to launch a new prototype store larger than any other home-improvement superstore in existence.

Its 225,000-square-foot concept will debut in seven Chicago-area locations (Homer Glen, Morton Grove, Palatine, Glendale Heights, Naperville, Bolingbrook and Plainfield) where it will go up against the first stores in the area being built by Lowe's (Wilkesboro, N.C.).

The store, the size of five football fields, is nearly 30 percent larger than its current largest (175,000-square-foot) format. .

The expanded Menards will be the biggest hardware stores in the nation, and among the first superstores the chain is planning for many of its markets. But it's not without risk. Many observers have expressed concern over how the company will fill such vast spaces with merchandise. “Menard obviously is seeking bragging rights,” said one retail consultant. “But . . . customers walking around 225,000 square feet are gong to be exhausted. Most shoppers today want things easier and simpler.”

Menard has more than 160 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin.