EDIT:
I'm updating my review as it isn't fair to leave my 2 star review based on one bad experience from a few years ago.
Menards is Menards, it's the only big box home store in our area. It's the only place to find many such things and in that respect it's rather convenient. It's always busy, and your mileage will vary from employee to employee, but most are friendly and helpful. Surprisingly, my favorite thing to buy there is TGIF potato skin chips!
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Menards is pretty much the only game in town for your Home Depot / Lowes home improvement type collection of goods. And in that regard, they have a good selection of items. I am glad we have them in Northwest Iowa if the alternative is nothing at all.... But they sure do not make it a pleasant shopping experience the majority of the time, which is unfortunate.
I went there twice over this Labor Day weekend, as I needed a few items for some home electrical repairs. Only one employee I encountered was helpful, a woman who works in the lighting section. Aside from her, I said "Hello" as I crossed paths with two other employees - both of them completely ignored me and kept on walking even though they looked right at me and made eye contact (though they quickly averted their gaze and kept on walking.)
At the check out lane, the customer ahead of me decided he had something in his basket that he didn't want to buy. So, he simply threw it in the goods at the sides of the check out isle. It fell down in between boxes of garbage bags and a stack of paper plates. He looked at it and shrugged, obviously not caring that the item was hidden down there. After he bought his goods and left, I moved up to the cashier and told the young woman what I saw just so someone would know that the item was down in there. But you know what? She acted like she didn't give a damn either.
After all this, I felt like I was invisible and that no one inside this building gives a damn about anything anymore.
Now, granted, it is a holiday weekend and the store was busy. Maybe the employees were disgruntled that they had to work a holiday weekend, I don't know. But I've heard other people make comments over the last couple years about how they hate going into Menards... And I'm starting to really see why. Honestly, if I didn't need those particular items right away, I would have had a far more pleasant shopping experience just ordering them online and having them shipped to my home.
Shopping there actually makes me wish they had better competition around here, rather than make me feel like rooting for them. Frankly, that's just sad. read more