The Menards Red Owl Store has arrived ..with pictures

Walmart and Menards are not in the same category of retail. Both stores are present in virtually every place that Menards operates. The fact that Arkansas is the home base for Walmart is completely immaterial. If you look at the map of Menards stores, you will see that they are clustered, undoubtedly to allow the distribution system to be in place before expansion begins. If Menards ever makes it to Arkansas, it will be because it is the logical next step from a neighboring state.

As for other grocery names, all that I can say is I'm glad Wisconsin-based Menards stepped up to create a model of a 400-store Midwestern chain that was iconic in five states until the 1980s. Minnesota-based Department 56 did likewise in 2001. There is too much of an East Coast bias for model production, so it's nice to see a manufacturer add some variety to the mix.

I was in my "local" Menard's this morning and was surprised they had a good supply of buildings l could inspect.  Saw RedOwl, station, and sauerkraut plant plus several others. Station is nice, large and l have too many. First chance to inspect it and Red Owl store.

I hemmed and hawed over the Red Owl store then they were all gone in my area so I had to have my brother in Iowa go pick one up for me. I bought my dad the American Power Company building in HO and will get it in O and I will get the station in both HO and O

Hey Mark, you guys should make a Super America station

I was on the fence also for this, but after reading all the reviews, I decided to take a look to see if I could find one......got lucky last night and found a Menards who had it in stock at their store and had the ship to home option available.  Hopefully this will be in good shape when it arrives.   Now to find some real estate on my layout or in the alternative initiate eminent domain proceedings on three brownstone models I modeled a few years ago.

-Pete 

Matt Makens posted:

Hey Mark, you guys should make a Super America station

OR.....go back to SA's roots and make a 50's era  Ashland gas station!!!! 

Only job Dad had after college was with Ashland......

I like tyhe "krinkle cut: roof of the 70's SA stores. Im not sure if there are any of them left

Matt Makens posted:

I like tyhe "krinkle cut: roof of the 70's SA stores. Im not sure if there are any of them left

Agreed....my brother worked at one in HS.....

I just returned my Red Owl store for a replacement, probably the last one available in stores. The Red Owl sign quit, no light, no flashing light in the sign.

I hope this is not a common problem with this sign, anyone else have a non operating sign ?

I'm hoping there's another run. I put one in my online shopping cart with the Hobby Shop and when I went to place the order the next day they were no longer available online.

Mike

Nairb Rekab posted:

I just returned my Red Owl store for a replacement, probably the last one available in stores. The Red Owl sign quit, no light, no flashing light in the sign.

I hope this is not a common problem with this sign, anyone else have a non operating sign ?

I too had the sign failure but to be fair knew it when I bought it but dumbly assumed I could extract power supply and repair.  So then I started a thread asking about EL power supplies.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/el-voltages

Still looks great with all the LEDs lit but sign working would be best.

Matt Makens posted:

Hey Mark, you guys should make a Super America station

Problem is they are Speedway stations in Wisconsin and elsewhere now.  Super America isn't as widespread anymore. But a classic Super America with the old SA logo would be cool. 

Glad I got mine when I did.  Thrilled everything works perfectly....great accessory.  Pic is somewhat overkill, but looks great on  the layout.  On with Menards.  Keep 'em coming.

Jerry

Why is that a problem? Red Owl isn't around at all and these sold like gang busters. Those old SA stations had a really cool look.

I received one for Christmas also, it's beautiful!  But it's also  DANG, BIG!

Matt Makens posted:

Why is that a problem? Red Owl isn't around at all and these sold like gang busters. Those old SA stations had a really cool look.

I agree if the stations from 40 years ago or earlier were modeled. There was a Superamerica just two blocks from my house in Waukesha before it was converted to a Speedway. I liked the name Superamerica better.

I was just commenting on the modern stations. Superamerica (based in Woodbury) is now almost solely in Minnesota, with a handful in western Wisconsin and a couple in the Dakotas. Only about 240 locations now. The old Superamerica covered Wisconsin and stretched into Illinois. If Menards did offer a model, it would make more sense to look back in time, like it did for the Red Owl store (modeled after an Eau Claire store that opened in the 1950s).

But if I was commissioning a gas station model, I would pick the American/Standard/Amoco stations. They covered the country with essentially the same sign with slightly different branding until BP bought them out in the late 1990s.

MIKATT1 posted:

I received one for Christmas also, it's beautiful!  But it's also  DANG, BIG!

I know. My current home layout is only 3x8, so the buildings I have purchased in the past several years are for a future around-the-room layout that is progressing as a plan. The problem is the Menards buildings I have bought (the Red Owl, the Menards Seed & Feed, and the Menards supercenter and garden center combo) are exceeding the real estate I had envisioned for buildings on the larger layout. But I gotta find a way to make it work because I love those buildings.

I also run my large trains at a club, and I figured a Red Owl would look great there. And it would. But it would involve neighborhood redevelopment to make it work. And that's definitely not my call.

I also was on the fence until I read the magazine review. My layout is still in the planning stages so making room won't be a problem. I just took the last one off the shelf at my local Menards after testing to make sure everything worked. With the 11% you can't afford not to buy it!

Any new info on the sign failures?   I picked up a store in December, and after a few minutes the sign quit, and started smoking like it was going to catch fire, actually melting a small hole in the panel.  Menards worked with me and sent another sign, then a whole building, but after 45 minutes the replacement one did the same thing.  I have not contacted them about the second failure yet...  The building was a huge hit at our holiday layout, so I'd like to keep it around, working as it should...

I got to wondering about the power supplies that they sell at Menards for these buildings.  The buildings state that they need 4.5 volts.  I had read on previous posts that their old power supplies were unregulated, but that the new are regulated.  So I took my old Menards power supply back and bought two new ones.  Last night we decided to check to what see the output of these "regulated" 4.5 volt power supplies are.  One was 8.87 volts and the other was 12.1 volts.  Obviously these power are not regulated and are throwing out many more volts that the buildings are supposed to have.  I'm not an electrician, but this could be the reason the signs and lights are failing.  So, we put a power regulator in the line to the Red Owl store and adjusted it to 3.0 volts, so the lights wouldn't be so bright.  It looks much better in my opinion, but of course it did not bring back the Miller sign that runs the Red Owl logo.

What do the rest of you think?

Art

I haven't tested the actual voltage, but I've had really good luck with the Lemax 4.5 volt adapters

Wow, Art, with a 12V supply, am sure that would fry something.  Would explain Dennis failure I'm sure.

Surely, Menards must be aware of electrical problems with returns.  But it would be nice if Mark et al, would heed the advice that us OGR people (especially those who have some or alot of electrical experience) are putting forth.  Sure those Chinese are just say "building work, what you problem?"

I mean, Mark asked in thread about what military markings to use for a car, so if they are asking on that, they certainly should be asking what problems have we seen in buildings.  And it dosen't bode well if we are hesitant to recommend someone buying that "cute Red Owl" store, knowing it may go poof, leaving a bad perception of quality.

I for one am going to hold off any building purchases until fixed, even though I am powering them from a commercial regulated 4.5V supply. And also because if inaccessibility to get at electrical for repair.

I'm not sure how anybody got the idea the new power supplies were OK. It was the ones that were in the store recently, not the older ones, that were shown to be outputting 8 volts or more. 

We're still waiting for Menards to confirm the problem.