Menard Inc.

Is Menards publicly traded?

No. Menard Inc. is privately held and has never gone public. Founder John Menard Jr. owns approximately 89 percent, with the rest held by family members.

Who owns Menards?

The Menard family, led by founder John Menard Jr., who remains president and controlling shareholder. His children Paul and Charlie hold senior leadership roles.

When was Menards founded?

John Menard Jr. founded his construction business in 1960 and opened the first Menards retail store in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1964.

How many Menards stores are there?

Approximately 340 stores across 15 states plus 15 distribution centers, concentrated in the Midwest, as of March 2026.

What is Menards' market position?

Menards is the third-largest US home improvement retailer behind Home Depot and Lowe's and the largest private retail company in the country by revenue, at an estimated $13.1 billion in 2025.

Who makes Criterion appliances for Menards?

Criterion is Menards' private-label appliance brand. Menards contracts production to outside manufacturers, with industry analysis identifying Midea Group as the principal producer for much of the line.

Why is Menards cheaper than competitors?

Its low prices come from everyday-low pricing, an 11 percent rebate model, heavy private-label penetration, and manufacturing its own building products through Midwest Manufacturing, all unburdened by shareholder return expectations.

John Menard Jr. put himself through the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the late 1950s by building pole barns, and in 1960 he formalized that work into a construction business. When customers kept asking to buy the materials he used rather than the buildings themselves, he opened a lumberyard, and the first Menards retail store followed in 1964 in Eau Claire.

The company expanded methodically through Wisconsin and into neighboring Midwestern states through the 1970s and 1980s, adding groceries and general merchandise that distinguished its stores from pure lumberyards. Its growth was entirely organic; Menards never franchised and rarely acquired, preferring to build new stores and, unusually, to manufacture many of the products it sold.

A defining strategic choice was vertical integration. Menards established Midwest Manufacturing, which produces doors, trusses, treated lumber, and other building products at company-owned plants, a structure that let it control quality and cost in ways competitors relying on suppliers could not. Distribution centers were added as the footprint grew to serve the expanding store base.

Through the 2000s and 2010s the chain pushed past 300 stores across 15 states, from its Wisconsin heartland out to Ohio, Kentucky, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. It invested heavily in private-label brands including Criterion appliances, Masterforce tools, and Tuscany fixtures, reinforcing the discount model.

The company remains fundamentally unchanged in ownership: John Menard Jr. still controls roughly 89 percent, family members including Paul and Charlie Menard hold senior roles, and the business has shown no interest in the public markets despite being large enough to rank among America's biggest private companies.

Menards' private status has not shielded it from public scrutiny, most of it tracing to its founder's politics and labor practices.

John Menard Jr. is a major donor to conservative causes and candidates, and his political activity has periodically made the company a target of consumer boycott campaigns. Separately, the company has faced labor-law findings over the years, including National Labor Relations Board rulings on employment policies, and coverage of its strict manager agreements that historically tied compensation to avoiding unionization.

Environmental enforcement has also touched the company, including past state and federal actions over hazardous waste and construction-site practices. On the retail side, its mail-in rebate model draws recurring consumer complaints about complexity and redemption friction, though regulators have not found the program unlawful.

None of these issues has altered the company's trajectory; as a family-controlled firm it is insulated from the investor pressure that forces changes at public competitors.