Stepping up, Menards goes metro in a big way.(report on home improvement)

While rival The Home Depot is building stores smaller than its usual box size to adapt to real estate constraints in dense urban markets, Menards is moving forward with an opposing strategy, debuting an urban prototype of mammoth proportion.

The 200-unit Midwestern home center chain, third largest behind Home Depot and Lowe's, opened its first two-story urban store March 19 in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul. The 240,000-square-foot building also follows the chain's desire to upsize its stores, with additional plans for stores of similar size to replace three smaller Twin Cities units.

Menards' quest to get younger and bigger is in large part a response …