Menards to take on Detroit

Midwestern retailer Menards is planning four stores in the Detroit market, where it currently has no presence, according to an article in the Detroit News.

Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott told the newspaper that the home improvement chain hopes to open stores in Warren, Livonia, Belleville and Chesterfield Township sometime next year.

In Metro Detroit, residential building permits rose 25% in 2011, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. But high unemployment persists, affecting the overall economy.