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In 2003, Menards sued Home Depot, alleging it ripped off his companys flyers and posted them in its stores. He is the son of John Robert Menard Sr (1917-1988). John Menard had built his regional empire of home improvement stores one two-by-four at a time until it had more than $6.6 billion in annual sales and 37,000 employees. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Hes normally by himself and just moves in and out of the shadows, says Indianapolis Motor Speedway track historian Donald Davidson. Instead, it provides customers with a list of private contractors. Is John Menard Married? But Menards staunchly protects its relationship with its first and most profitable customer, contractors. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Others are not sure. John Menard Jr also clings to his mantra, Save Big Money with Menards, even as the original low-price leader, Wal-Mart, has begun to question whether an obsession with price still works, given its slowing sales growth. The company plans more monster stores. But Helgets boss, Larry Menard, said there were no exceptions to the company rule. Its about power, Archibald says. Some budget-squeezed managers could be so short staffed, they had trouble meeting demands headquarters placed upon them. If you wanted shelf space at Menards, you were pushed to buy a racing sponsorship. Even minor building projects concerned him. Menard also clings to his mantra, Save Big Money with Menards, even as the original low-price leader, Wal-Mart, has begun to question whether an obsession with price still works, given its slowing sales growth. Nowadays, John Menard has become infamous for the titillating legal case filed against the then 73-year-old business man whom Forbes magazine rates as the world's 16th wealthiest man, with a net . To this day, Larry said, that booklet is basically our rule book.. Greater Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce President Robert S. McCoy says Menard does support Regis High School, a Catholic school. When an even more draconian clause was added later, Faber, the former Iowa store manager, questioned it and drew Larry Menards ire. Submission Guidelines Happiness isnt as easily controlled. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Menard rarely gives interviews and refused to grant one for this article. His style is suggested by an innocuously titled pamphlet, Grow with Menards, which details the companys standard operating procedure. If not, could you forward this site to this person. In the 1980s, he bought ships full of Fiat tractor parts that had been refused by the customer whod ordered them. In 2003, the Minnesota attorney general charged that Menards manufactured and sold arsenic-tainted mulch in packaging labeled ideal for playgrounds and for animal bedding. Warning labels from the CCA-treated wood were found in the mulch. In a September 2004 Federal Tax Court case, an IRS expert placed Menards return on assets at 14.2 percent compared to Home Depots 10.3 percent and Lowes 6.8 percent. Donates to Mayo Clinic's Luther Midelfort hospital in Eau Claire, Wis. If John Menard was in a given city, hed do his own, often in a crude, but unintentional, disguise. A ton of staffing problems. But the corporate culture just beat you down and made you feel youre replaceable, and that you had no other options, says Bropst. More often, Menard gets outraged at those who question how he runs the company he built. Menards team won the Indy Racing League championship in 1997 and again in 1999. Trusts named after Menard and his family members held the remaining shares. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, by 2006, Home Depot had annual sales of $81.5 billion and more than 2,000 stores in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico. Menards style is suggested by how he paid people: As company president and CEO, his $20.6 million pay in 1998 included a bonus equal to 5 percent of the companys before-tax profit, an arrangement he instituted in 1973. DNR officials have cited Menards at least 13 times since 1976 for ignoring or violating state regulations related to air and water pollution and hazardous waste. Additional IRS cases show the Paul C. Menard 1985 Trust had a 2002 taxable income of $30.4 million; Mollys trust, $4.5 million. Apart from his achievements from his profession as a businessman, his success as a father has also made him famous. A ton of staffing problems. At that point, Bropst says, his new employer said youve got a store to run, and it joined in his defense. He said we could find a house in another town, but all our friends and family are here. This translates into millions of dollars worth of publicity. And with his employers legal team involved, Menards suits stopped. In 2006, the construction of a $112 million warehouse became a campaign issue in the Wisconsin governors race. Anyone can drive it, Archibald says, until it crashes. The rules also reflected the personality of a man who started with nothing and succeeded by pinching pennies. Retail War As the competition heated up, Menard complained to the Council of Better Business Bureaus that Home Depots ads in both Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul which suggested Menards sold inferior merchandise were blatantly false. He said we could find a house in another town, but all our friends and family are here. Rumors circulated that Lowes would acquire Menards, but instead, it moved into Chicago in 1999 and Milwaukee in 2005. Thats well ahead of Herbert Kohler, Wisconsins second-richest man, whose estimated family wealth is $4.5 billion. By the early 1990s, Atlanta-based Home Depot, the countrys second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart, had its eye on the Chicago market. Jhon Menard Andres II. John Menard Jr, Ander, the retail consultant, says that Menards Inc. has succeeded through strong leadership by a benevolent dictator. But after the dictators gone, does the culture survive? Ander asks. Rumors circulated that Lowes would acquire Menards, but instead, it moved into Chicago in 1999 and Milwaukee in 2005. Race car buff sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Nascar team; also funds Team Menard at Indy 500. He has a total of 6 children. The result was a unique shopping experience. The Helgets hired a contractor to build a ramp-equipped home, using building materials from another company. LLP. Paul, the race car driver, now 26, moved to North Carolina to get out of his fathers shadow, says Archibald. In metro Milwaukee, Menards has nine stores, ahead of the five Lowes stores and second to Home Depots 12. What is the net worth of John Menard? Its entertainment. Menards is an American home improvement retail company headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He kept telling me, Its a game and Im winning.. Current Issue, Advertise Nothing moves without his approval.. I still love John like a brother, Archibald swears, but he couldnt stomach his treatment. When he gets happy, I think he struggles with that. Questioning their policy was the beginning of the end, Faber says now. Brayton was quoted calling Menard one of my dearest friends. He would call Menard at home late at night and theyd talk for hours, Indy historian Davidson says. Menards Inc. had become an S-Corporation, where profits are passed on to owners and taxed at their personal tax rate, and John Menard owned 88.7 percent of the company. There are new treasures, says Edward S. Archibald, who left the company two years ago after a 27-year tenure that included a decade and a half as a top executive. John Menard, III ("J.R." Menard), is the current Corporate Treasurer. It became a marketing vehicle for his stores and a way to shakedown suppliers. John R Menard III, age 80+, lives in Eau Claire, WI. He developed a habit of dousing himself with cologne, says one insider. In December 2000, the company named a new CEO, Robert Nardelli, who had no retail experience. By contrast, the Lowes management team is considered top notch. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Last year, the value of Menards racing-circuit exposure was worth $22.2 million, estimates sponsorship expert Eric Wright. He refused the transfer and filed an age discrimination complaint, but lost. The new dictate required that managers pay a $200 deductible if a delivery driver they hired was in a traffic accident. Faber was offered a demotion in a different city. And the pay for managers was generous: $80,000 to $200,000 a year with bonus and profit-sharing included. The penalty is termination. One of his sons is named John Menard III. This translates into millions of dollars worth of publicity. Paul practically grew up on a racetrack, cutting his teeth on go-kart and ice boat racing. Thats the toughest question, says former Menard engineering director Kight. He has controlled every aspect of the company since he started it. With no middleman to pay, Menard cut 10 percent off the cost of a steel door. Like Wal-Mart, notorious for bullying manufacturers, Menards played hardball with suppliers. The Helgets were elated until they discovered Eldons contract with Menards barred him from working for a competitor for a year. Its a big gamble, industry observers say, but it might also assure the companys survival. John had them painted, got them put together, and we sold them, recalls Steve Faber, who served the company for 19 years, including 15 as an Iowa store manager. Those who know him say John was probably already on his way back to company headquarters in Eau Claire. In their book Built from Scratch, company founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Black recounted how in the 1990s, a man tried to return a set of tires, even though Home Depot didnt sell tires. Menards was adamant about keeping a union out of its stores. Menards store managers make an annual pilgrimage to Eau Claire to negotiate their stores budget, but couldnt budge the number much, managers say. It was 1960 and he was just 20 years old. The Price of Success Lowes sold $43 billion at 1,250 stores in 49 states. Jim Doyle arranged $4.2 million in state aide to help the company expand its Eau Claire manufacturing headquarters. John Willis Menard, a college-educated political activist born to free parents of French Creole descent, made his Central American journey as a representative of Lincoln's. His goal: to . Theres an independent streak that runs through the family and owning your own business has always been a big deal, says his cousin Frank Watson. Adds Archibald, Hes been a failure when it comes to his family, when it comes to relationships. When the Helgets could find no home that met their needs, they decided to build from scratch. Tinkering with that mix in February, Menard added milk and groceries at some locations. If they couldnt beat a price, Menard would order his managers to buy up a competitors entire supply of that product. Hed also protected it from big-league interlopers Home Depot and Lowes, and between 1996 and 2007, his personal net worth grew from $775 million to $5.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Larry Menard told Bropst hed have to move. Hes had six children by three women, married and divorced Menards built new stores without having to get a bank loan. He lives down the block from his brother, Larry, in the 1972 ranch he shared with his second wife, Paula Christine, and their three kids, J.R. (John R. Menard III), Paul C. and Molly C., until the couple divorced in 1993. The National Home Center News,a New York-based trade publication, quoted vendors describing Menard as tenacious, frightening, entrepreneurial and paranoid all in the same breath.. Top Docs Empire building can be an all-consuming task, and John wasnt always there after his son crossed the finish line. After 27 years, I expected more.. Compensation for Menards other corporate officers, revealed in the companys 1998 tax case, showed a massive drop from the CEOs salary: operations manager Larry Menard at a $45,000 base salary and $180,000 bonus; Johns son, Christopher, then still with the company as corporate secretary and Eau Clare distribution center manager, at $172,815; Marvin Prochaska, head of real estate, at $121,307, and chief financial officer and treasurer Earl Rasmussen with $55,702. The Menard racing team kept racing the V-6s through 1996, though without Buick's official sanction. The owner of Menard's one of the biggest home improvement centers in the Midwest has been active in motor sports having founded Team Menard's. Paul Menard is scheduled to drive for Theresa Earnhardt moving up full time to Cup from the Busch Series. Two of the babies didnt make it, and John (Menard) fined him $2,000 [out of his bonus] because he had to bury two of his kids and didnt put in 55 hours those two weeks., John expects his employees to be like him, says former Menards exec Archibald. If they continue to mimic whats being done today, they could survive a long time, Archibald says, likening the company to great race car. By age 8, he'd scored his first competitive win. Former company insiders describe him as John Menards right-hand man. But two years ago, John Menard accused him of taking a kickback from a supplier. When Home Depot opened its first Chicago store the following September, we were ready and waiting, Bropst says. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), yesterday said that, at REI Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, have voted to join the RWDSU, making this the third unionized REI store in the U.S. Hes nowhere near as rich as he boasts, nor as poor as his critics claim. After just two years of working with the pole barn company, John Menard hired his own crew and began selling pole buildings himself at the side of the road near his familys farm. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. John Menard Jr. Johns trying to buy off his younger children, so they wont leave him, like the older ones did, Archibald says. John Menard and his company have had more run-ins with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) than any other Wisconsin company, state justice department lawyers wrote in a complaint against Menard in 2005. John Menard Jr marketing strategy was three-pronged, beginning with a weekly circular that featured low-priced and even free goods like a 75-cent extension cord. None of Menards children want to take over their fathers business. When I was promoted to assistant general store manager, the first thing I had to do was go to a one-and-one-half-day seminar in Eau Claire about fighting unions, says Baumann. While John Menard Jr was still in high school, his father hired a company to build a pole barn, and John got a summer job working with the crew. His buyers were ruthless, says Baumann. The home office monitored every stores security cameras for at least an hour a day. Most companies with an employee with a disabled daughter would want to be behind the family But John Menard had this attitude, Who the hell is telling me how to run my company?. When it comes to decisions about how far to expand, John had a wisdom that these people dont., But it may not matter who becomes the next CEO. One year, we had truckloads of poinsettias and another year Bumpy Diapers, says Ivan DenOuden, a former department manager in Mason City, Iowa. They have also lived in Bark River, MI. There were all kinds of one-time buys. The end of Johns first marriage was messier, and Johns relationship with his two children from it, 43-year-old Renee and 40-year-old Christopher, is rockier. That meant a $15,000 cut in his $40,000 salary, but Helget still agreed. John Menard Jr. We used to joke when a letter came from headquarters that it would start with either What the F or Why the F, says former manager Bropst. Contact Ruling by Intimidation Menard also owns an engine shop in the United Kingdom that produced engines for Team Menard and Robby Gordon Motorsports and was the owner of Team Menard which won the 1997 and 1999 Indy Racing League championships. John would say, Why make a rule if youre not going to enforce it? Archibald recalls, adding sometimes, you have to cut throats. two of them. He had owned an Indy-car racing team for 25 years, beginning before Paul was born. Lowes sold $43 billion at 1,250 stores in 49 states. Careers We didnt have any money. He doesnt go for all these foundations and write-offs, offers former Eau Claire state senator Dave Zien. Friday 4/27/2007. Even those who know him well describe him in contradictory terms, as both hero and villain; the very model of a successful American entrepreneur; both brilliant and charming, yet also a foul-mouthed micromanager and a perfectionist who can be cruelly demanding with employees. Menard is also a partner in Robby Gordon Motorsports with NASCAR owner/driver Robby Gordon, and is the father of NASCAR driver Paul Menard. If you wanted shelf space at Menards, you were pushed to buy a racing sponsorship. The donation will be used for a new emergency services department and to help Mayo Clinic educate and train health professionals. As the competition heated up, Menard complained to the Council of Better Business Bureaus that Home Depots ads in both Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul which suggested Menards sold inferior merchandise were blatantly false. The service desk employee called corporate headquarters for guidance. Expanded into 11 midwestern states by undercutting competition penny by penny.