MENARDS a vacation destination!

Cool, a new vacation destination Menards!

I did the same thing. While on vacation this summer, I located a Menards along our route and stopped to browse the train items upstairs. I DID find several items I could not live without.

We did the same thing this summer but they didn't have any trains in La Cross WI. I did get a nice Shell delivery van. on this same vacation I got to Mr. Muffins in Atlanta IN. only to find his store closed due to a family emergency. Luckily the rest of the vacation was pretty neat.

My workplace is 2 miles away from that Menards on Wixom Rd & I drive by it on my commute back home. I never had a reason to visit yet but might stop by when it gets closer to the year-end holidays.

Naveen

LOL!! As soon as I saw the title I started laughing since I have an uncle that comes to visit us and his big stop each time in town is Menards. He is an expert wood worker and loves shopping for tools. Oh yah, we live 30 minutes from downtown Chicago and Menards is all he can talk about seeing!!!!

It looks like there is one of those flatcars with the Chinatown school bus on the shelf behind you....those are actually pretty fun. 

I stop at Menards as well when I'm on the road to look at their train stuff (luckily I have one where I live as well.) It is kind of slim picking sometimes out of the Christmas season, but I have found a few items this way. 

The one at 96 and Merriman (or is it Middlebelt) is the furthest Ive been from home it two years! So it was a vacation! (I'm E.of the airport by I-94, maybe 15-20 miles there?)

Rebuit half a dozen out of broken ones upstairs, and bought two of them; plain PRR flats for $8ea. (U.P. were the only ones not sold. Every other road was handled to near death.)

  Hopefully by next summer the one on Eureka is done; I didn't say 15 miles in a car was pleasant.

I can see it now, My lovely wife I like us to go to Menard's for vacation.

wife, what is a Menard's?

A store that is like Home depot but sells trains too.

Wife .  Where?

somewhere in the mid west.

Wife. Are you feeling OK?

Now in case no one hears from me soon, please find out what state hospital I am in. It is important that you tell them that electric shock therapy  does not work on me.

John, it also sells groceries, and has the biggest collection of lighting fixtures I've seen.  When we go from VA to KC to visit a son, we always stop, each way. 

I go there 3 times a week. It's a great store.

Never have found one that stocks trains.

All of the ones Ive been to stock trains in the winter months. Its a big Christmas thing. Go there after black firday

Gentlemen,

   As much as I love Menard's for me it will never be a Vacation Destination.  When I have time for a real vacation I might visit them on line to pick up a new Military O Gauge piece  of rolling stock but Menard's is basically a work related store. I do not want to work during Vacation time!

I do love the pictures in front of the new store however!

PCRR/Dave

RJR posted:

Never have found one that stocks trains.

Basically, the trains go in when the seasonal department is filled with toys. From past experience, I can say it is stocked by Nov. 1, but it can vary since Menards hasn't really had a long history in the train manufacturing field and may try different approaches.

Also, as has been repeatedly stated on this forum, Menards does not bring any new train stock in late in the holiday season and beyond. So there is no point looking for a new release in the stores after Dec. 25. Any leftover stock is moved to another area after Christmas -- at least in most stores -- but the selection is generally pretty small until the next holiday season.

Also, it is possible that Menards stocks some stores pretty lightly with trains, based on past sales, so your experience may vary.

OK....if Menards is to be one of those on-the-way stops as part of your travels/vacation, here's a tip....

If you're travelling I-69 through Michigan to/from Sarnia, Ontario (402), there's a Menards right at exit 143, Irish Road, Davison, MI, north side (NW quadrant) of I-69.  Easy off, easy on.  This is 'our' Menards....we're exactly 1 mile away!!.....and go there weekly for this-and-that.......more often during their 11% rebate weeks (currently running for its sixth consecutive week!!!!!!)  

But, as eleventy-seventy others have mentioned, the train stuff is only on the main merchandise shelves during the holiday shopping season....typically after November 1-ish...or upstairs in the non-seasonal storage area (access permitted all retail customers) as noted by the OP.

I'm not sure why we'd expect Menards to have trains on the main floor merchandise shelves all year long.  It's not a hobby shop.  I'm just thankful that they have frequent product releases throughout the year, available by on-line order, FREE SHIPPING to the nearest store (If you're so fortunately situated!).  I mean, how competitive are the other guys in this hobby?......Home Depot, Lowes, etc., etc.????

BTW, I've mentioned it before, but Menards is the only store of its type...at least in our area...that stocks Homasote...all year, every day!!  (Years ago the chap at the contractors counter at Lowes responded to my 'Do you carry Homasote?'....."What's Homasote??)  Again.....having a train-guy at the helm has its advantages in other areas of the store, too!!!

Good to see that Menards is still expanding throughout the states.  I imagine most are located along main interstate thoroughfares.  Gee....come to think of it....life 'between the edges' here in Middle-Earth, USA ain't so bad for us muggles, after all!

All in all.....Menards?......You rock!!  Carry on!!

KD

This reminds me of when my in-laws first moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas in the mid '80s.  We went out to visit, and they said you have to visit this fantastic store that we don't have in Pennsylvania...Wal-Mart!!!!!  Yes, Wal-Mart was a vacation destination.  Now, that we have had them for years, I don't particularly like going to Wal-Mart.  Now that there aren't any Menards in Pennsylvania, I can see it too could be a vacation destination, though I have never been in one.  I see there is one as close as Warren, Ohio now, but it seems Lowe's and Home Depot have locked up the home improvement business, driving a lot of good hardware stores out of business.  

Well, yes, if there is time and we see a Menards in our travels, I will want to stop in.  

Definitely on my list of vacation stops if I get near a store.

Have to get my Lowes, Sears Craftsman, DeLorean parts vendor and Train Store "fix" when I visit the States. The Wife calls it a holiday.....I call it a supply run

Managed to get a couple of buildings shipped to FL when we visited. 

Shame they don't ship to the UK 

Nick

bigtruckpete posted:

LOL!! As soon as I saw the title I started laughing since I have an uncle that comes to visit us and his big stop each time in town is Menards. He is an expert wood worker and loves shopping for tools. Oh yah, we live 30 minutes from downtown Chicago and Menards is all he can talk about seeing!!!!

 

LOL!!  You have to take your uncle to the new one in Northlake on North Ave just east of Mannheim RD.

its a two story wonderland of home improvement with everything you could imagine or want... your uncle will think he wandered into heaven!! ��