FAIRBORN — On Sept. 21, the Fairborn Menards location officially opened to the public. The home improvement store, located at 1277 E. Dayton Yellow Springs Road, opened to crowds on its first day.
The 415-space parking lot was about half full at mid-morning. The Fairborn location is the first in the chain to open in Greene County. The store will bring up to 45 full-time jobs and up to 80 part-time jobs to the surrounding community.
“We’re super excited to be open. It’s been a lot of months in the making,” said store manager Zach Pugh.
The store is 250,000 square feet in total. The primary building sits at approximately 173,000 square feet, with 28,000 square feet of garden space and a 47,000 square foot accessory warehouse, located north of the building. Menards has 20 bike rack spaces, and 12 parking spots that are accessible.
The store’s opening has not been significantly impacted by COVID-19, aside from compliance with state and local regulations, according to Pugh.
“Not a lot has changed, in terms of how we do specifics like masks and social distancing. When we’re open we have those rules in place too, so in that sense a lot of things stayed the same,” Pugh said.
The store’s layout is designed for improved traffic flow, with one main entrance and one main exit. Though the layout was finalized well before the coronavirus, the design is advantageous for a business trying to weather a global pandemic.
“We really didn’t have to change a lot for all the social distancing guidelines, and we’ve still gone to extra measures to put up barriers throughout the store, and to require masks even before the state was requiring it,” Pugh said.
Store hours are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
