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CHAMINADE TOURNAMENT: Tatum overcomes poor start in helping Chaminade top BaylessST. DOMINIC BOYS TOURNEY: Zumwalt West falls after big shot propels Sikeston to OT victoryCOLLINSVILLE BOYS TOURNEY: Lincoln survives Althoff's late rally to claim Collinsville tourney titleST. DOMINIC GIRLS TOURNEY: St. StatePhotos: Blues beat Chicago in shootoutA gruesome end to the UFC main eventThe top Weatherbirds of 2013Top 5 country music concerts of the yearThe folksy jingle "save big money at Menards" often heard in other parts of the Midwest will soon be making its debut in St. Louis.Home improvement retailer Menards, which has a big presence in its home state of Wisconsin and surrounding states, is set to open its first stores and supersized ones at that in the area next month.These initial two stores in St. Peters and O'Fallon, Ill. were to be the first of at least six, but Menards recently slowed its aggressive expansion push here and elsewhere amid the uncertain economy.Saying that "the great people of the St. Louis area desperately need a better choice for home improvement products," Menards promises to bring the "lowest prices in the region" on name brand products.But analysts note that prices in this industry tend to be pretty competitive, especially since many of the larger chains carry similar merchandise. They add that Menards' larger rivals Home Depot and Lowe's have an advantage with their size in being able to leverage more buying power with suppliers.Menards' new stores are notable in part for their sheer size more than 200,000 square feet with a full service lumberyard and warehouse that shoppers can drive into.The company has been going against the grain by opening these ever bigger stores in recent years at a time when most www.shopcanadahockeyonline.com/olympic+carey+price+canada+jersey big box retailers are shrinking their footprints.Menards says these new stores will be almost double the size of a Home Depot and Lowe's and will offer 40 percent more products than those competitors.The privately held company's expansion comes at a time when the industry is poised for an upswing with the housing market appearing to be on the rebound.In January, home prices saw their sharpest increase in nearly seven years, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic. Meanwhile, the inventory of homes for sale in January fell to its lowest level in 13 years, the National Association of Realtors reported last week.The new store openings Menards has yet to give the exact opening dates in April also coincide with the sector's busiest time of year. Many home improvement retailers boost their staffing in the spring when home remodeling and construction projects get under way."All in all, it's probably a good time to be in this industry and a good time to be expanding a bit," said Robin Diedrich, an analyst with Edward Jones in Des Peres.But still, even Menards has become more cautious recently, putting on hold other stores beyond these initial two slated for this region."We have postponed plans to build additional stores due to concerns that economic conditions will worsen, but if the economy improves, we hope to be able to reconsider," Jeff Abbott, a Menards spokesman, wrote in an email.He added that the company could not comment about ongoing real estate deals.Until recently, Menards had been working on at least four other proposed stores for this region. Those stores were slated for Richmond Heights, St. Ann, Manchester and O'Fallon, Mo.But despite Menards' slowdown, Richmond Heights' city manager Amy Hamilton said that city is still "moving forward" with plans for a megastore east of Hanley Road and south of Highway 40 (Interstate 64).The proposed two story, 246,000 square foot Menards store would be in Hadley Township, a historically African American neighborhood that has been the focus of a decade of failed redevelopment efforts.The proposed Menards store for that area made major headway when it reached an agreement at the end of last year to buy about 100 properties that would be torn down to make way for the development. Those contracts are set to close by the end of this year, Hamilton said.The city manager added that the city is still working out the details of a proposed tax www.shopcanadahockeyonline.com/olympic+chris+kunitz+canada+jersey assistance package to support the plan."We're not anywhere close to breaking ground," Hamilton added. "That wouldn't Chris Kunitz Canada Hockey Jersey be until 2014."A Menards store also was to be one part of the redevelopment project for the defunct Northwest Plaza in St. Ann.Matt Conley, St. Ann's city administrator, said the city is aware that Menards has reprioritized its store openings. But it's not "that big of an issue" right now because there is still a lot of work to be done to get the site ready, he said.