www.register-mail.com/stories/111207/MAI_BETJV8KE.GID.s -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 11/12/2007
Last Visited: 11/12/2007
Company spokesman Jeff Abbott said, "I don't have the exact opening date."He said a target date has been set, but is not being released.One media outlet is reporting the store will open Jan. 7.
Abbott said there will be hundreds of new jobs at the store.
"Typically, what we tell people, at full strength we hope to employ 200 people," Abbott said, adding that "full strength" will not happen immediately.
Reports have put the size of the store at between 220,000 and 240,000 square feet.Abbott said that depends on whether the inside "yard" is included or not.
"All of our new stores are called the new Menards megastores," Abbott said; the official size of the megastores is 240,000 square feet.
A grand opening event will be held, but Abbot said it is not yet known whether that will take place the day the store opens or at a later date.He said Menards typically brings in former members of professional sports teams popular in the area to add excitement to the grand opening festivities.
"We're opening a store in Muscatine (Iowa) today," Abbott said."Grand opening is coming up Dec. 1.They're going to have Kevin Butler from the Bears and they're going to be having Fergie Jenkins," a former Cubs pitcher, who is a member of the baseball Hall of Fame.
Abbott asked whether the Galesburg area is still Bears' country, and if it is Cubs/White Sox territory.Told the Bears are the most popular NFL team in the area, but the Cubs and Cardinals are the favorite baseball teams, he said Menards likely will bring in a former Bears player, as well as someone with ties to both the Cubs and Cards.