Menards Grand Opening Still Up in the Air, Initial Hiring Complete for St. Peters Store

Menards in St. Peters has completed the initial hiring for its store, but has yet to announce its grand opening date, a company spokesman said.

Menards representatives initially told St. Peters that the store would add 150 to 200 new jobs in the area. Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott said the store managers have completed their initial hiring but are still accepting applications in-store or online at www.menards.com.

The store is expected to open sometime this spring, but a grand opening date has not yet been released. The grand opening will include celebrity appearances, prize give-aways, product demonstrations and more, Abbott said. 

The St. Peters-location, at 151 Spencer Road, will be among the first to open in the St. Louis metro-area. Another store is slated to be built in O'Fallon, IL.

The new home improvement store will have a full-service lumberyard, a garden center and will offer window, door, lighting, plumbing, flooring, paint, landscape blocks, brand appliances, pet products, tools and convenience groceries. 

The national chain has five Missouri stores located two to three hours from St. Louis and six Illinois stores located about two hours away. 

"These stores were seeing more and more business from St. Louis-area zip codes, therefore we wanted to provide more access and better shopping convenience for the good folks of the St. Louis-metro area,” Abbott said in an email. 

Menards pulled back from plans to build another store in O'Fallon, MO, in December. 

"We have postponed plans to build additional stores due to concerns that economic conditions will worsen, but if the economy improves, we hope to be able to reconsider,” Abbott said. 

Abbott said the home improvement chain only opens a new store when they can afford to pay for the store, which leads to slow expansion.

"In 2013, we have opened two stores and have another 16 in the construction phase," he said. "In 2014, we have plans to build four new stores, but beyond that we’re taking a wait-and-see attitude.”