Menards openings include ‘chainsaw artist’

According to local news reports, several Menards grand openings are featuring John Gage, a ‘chainsaw artist’ who makes wood carvings in front of the stores and sells them at store openings.

Most recently, the grand opening of a 226,000-square-foot store in Hastings, Neb., was covered by the local television station KHAS-TV. According to the interview, Gage has been traveling the Midwest to various store openings, creating owl, bear and eagle carvings, among others, to promote the new stores.

The gimmick has paid off, he told the station: “They come around; they hear the saw running; a lot of times they guess what I am going to make. I zip along so they will stand and watch.”

Gage has also made recent appearances at Menards grand openings in Lancaster, Ohio, where a new 225,000-square-foot store opened last month; and at a “re-grand opening” ceremony of an expanded Menards store in Clive, Iowa.