Tell me about Menards?

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mguzzy

mguzzy

Gold Supporter
Jul 8, 2015
3,926
California, somewhere in the middle
Howdy to all you Midwesterners. I thought I would tap into the hive mind for an opinion! I know many of you shop at Menards. They name is mentioned for chlorine purchases all the time. So I live in CA and have been doing some Internet shopping and I found some outdoor wall lights that I like at Menards. They are sold only there and seem to be a brand that is owned by Menards (Patriot Lighting). They are probably built by another manufacturer and Menards puts its name on them I am guessing. We don't have any Menards stores out here for me to see it up close and personal, so I am wondering what you all think of the quality of the stuff they sell there before I pull the trigger on an online order.
Thnx all
 
I'm in Minnesota and shop at Menards frequently. They have good inventory and generally good value on commodity stuff. I will say that I am somewhat picky about what I buy at Menards and usually want to lay eyes on it. I would very rarely buy any of their 'house brand' hand and power tools. They may work initially, but the quality is just not there. I like buying lumber there when I can pick it out myself.

That said - I have some of their Patriot lighting fixtures and have been happy with them. Don't expect a luxury light fixture that will outlast your home - but they look good and function as expected. For this relatively 'low tech' item - if you like the looks, you can't go too far wrong.
 
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Are they the string lights ? first ones I bought lasted a whole 2 months if the transformer gets wet the lights are shot. Even though they claim water proof, I bought 2 more sets and moved the plug to under a over hange and will bring them inside for winter. The guy at menards did tell me to bring back the old ones and they would replace them with the receipt, menards has deals with or owns alot of other companies like for the metal siding bricks and such. these 2 sets have lasted all summer,
 
@crushkittykitty I'm looking at replacing the outdoor wall light fixtures on the front and back of my house. I like the looks of one of the ones they sell at Menards (these) but it is a brand name I find no other place. And there are no Menards stores within two time zones of me. And I thought I would take advantage of the Labor Day sales.
It looks like the Patriot Lighting line of lights are a house brand owned by Menards. I think some of the fixtures are made by Hampton Bay and they put their name on them. Other companies do the same thing. Lowes has its own house brand of tools called Kobalt and has some other company make them for them.
 
mguzzy said:
Howdy to all you Midwesterners. I thought I would tap into the hive mind for an opinion! I know many of you shop at Menards. They name is mentioned for chlorine purchases all the time. So I live in CA and have been doing some Internet shopping and I found some outdoor wall lights that I like at Menards. They are sold only there and seem to be a brand that is owned by Menards (Patriot Lighting). They are probably built by another manufacturer and Menards puts its name on them I am guessing. We don't have any Menards stores out here for me to see it up close and personal, so I am wondering what you all think of the quality of the stuff they sell there before I pull the trigger on an online order.
Thnx all
Click to expand...
Im at Menards far too often. I just replaced all of my outdoor lights (5 of them) with some very similar Patriot lights from Menards. I’m very happy with them.
 
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I see different lights all together I only have some janky light that was on the house when we got it. prolly some off brand sold at the dollar store.
btw PATRIOT LIGHTING Trademark of Menard, Inc.
google lol of course it also states they only have 10 employees so anyway
I like the light might pick one up :)
 
I miss Menards. Imagine having a project and not having to go to all three of Home Despot, bLowes and A$ce to actually get it done, and for about 15% lest cost overall--- and that is Menards.

They have their issues, I do know of many who were not happy how they handled our recent crisis. A lot of the stuff is from China, like your Patriot Lights. They will be as good as anything else you'd buy from the Despot or the bLowes, though so I would say, go for it.

It's sad but when I go back the Midwest, Aldi's (you have those in CA, you lucky dog) are two places I go for nostalgia purposes. I literally fill up my checked luggage with Menards specials on (small) tools too each time I fly back too.
 
Menard's is a mix of stuff. A lot of stuff, especially there house brand power tools, I'd never buy (did once, never again, just so cheap). Other stuff can be good or bad. I get all my wood there, same price/quality as Home Depot but I can usually get an 11% store rebate, especially this year as they've done the 11% off all year due to Covid. 12.5% pool chlorine and 32% acid are $3.99/gallon.

I did get some cheap ($11/each) Patriot low voltage lighting to see how it would look on the fence. Was planning on getting more once I got all the rebates from our fence build this spring. Unfortunately I'm not thrilled, they are painted and the brown paint is very sun faded after just a couple months. At $50/each your outdoor lighting is probably better, but it's almost certainly on the cheaper side of things, that's how Menard's rolls (generally).

We also recently got two cushioned patio chairs, swivel ones with the spring loaded base so you can lean back a little. They are quite comfortable, but again, the quality was meh. On both the left arm is a little loose even with things tightened all the way. I can live with that, so long as they last with sitting outside. We will see.
 
Menards power tools tend to be a lot like Harbor Freight. They are either extreme bargains for the occasional user like us home people or they are completely inadequate for the task. It's somewhat easier to figure what is good and what isn't for HF online, though. The hand tools are perfectly fine if you are not a contractor. That is usually what I load up on during my trips to the Midwest. Like HF they have gotten better over time. Some of them are cheap enough that if you use then twice then you get your money's worth out of it.

Their lights are pretty much exactly the same as you'd get at Costco. I suspect they are made by Feit Electric, (Menards was a big early carrier of that Chinese brand) -- but so are the ones at Costco. Home Depot is a little better for electrical stuff, but you'll pay for it. Not really for anything else though, honestly. You aren't going to get super quality anywhere anymore, unfortunately. I wouldn't do appliances at Menards ever-- that is one Crud department there, Home Depot is okay if you get a sale, Lowe's is decent for appliances all the time.

For commodity stuff however, Menard's is great. Whether or not their lumber is better or worse than the other places-- it depends on the lot of wood itself, honestly. That was the one thing that I would go to look at all three stores for in the Midwest...

Still they stock their stores better and more consistently than HD or Lowes, so I do miss them. I literally could go just there for a project, and now that I live at a place with only Ace, HD and Lowe's I have to go to all three usually even for the simplest projects. And the end result is more expensive and more time consuming.

They also have fairly neat seasonal stuff and you could get bargains out of them, especially when they closed them out for the season.
 
So we shall see... I ordered the those lights last weekend. all but one they would ship to me in CA... CA has some weird law where they block certain items for "environmental" reasons. But I could ship to my sons college address in Reno, NV. The last thing I had to do that with were some soccer cleats for my son... apparently they were made from kangaroo hide or some such thing. Perhaps the Chinese made Patriot Lights are made from kangaroos as well.

Thank you all for your insights into the Menards stores.. I'll have to check one out next time I venture east of the Rockies.
 
Lights? Wow. I could never move to California because a significant portion of my possessions would be banned before I even crossed the border (I probably have to be careful if I ever end up going there for a weekend...). And I have been offered many times to move there... with the then utter disbelief that stuff like that would matter to me by prospective employers.... well, that and the cost of living difference....

Well good luck with the contraband. I am sure it will work just fine. Menards to me was love/hate. I love them more now that I am also 1K miles away from the closest one which I think is in Cheyenne, WY...

You'll have to update us on how they shipped, etc. There has been a couple times I've been tempted to mail order from them as well.. But the shipping made it cost prohibitive at the time.
 
Rattus Suffocatus said:
Lights? Wow. I could never move to California because a significant portion of my possessions would be banned before I even crossed the border (I probably have to be careful if I ever end up going there for a weekend...).
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You'll have to update us on how they shipped, etc. There has been a couple times I've been tempted to mail order from them as well.. But the shipping made it cost prohibitive at the time.
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You can bring just about any contraband into the state you want.. you just can't have it shipped there. (Prop 60 I think) My kids are in college in Reno. I had it shipped there and he brought it the next time he came home. I opened the box and it was filled with alien invaders that ate off my face.:alien:👾
 

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