No matter what we do, we all try to be an independent person with our own decisions. However, like me, I’m sure you’re guilty of falling for advertising campaigns. Also, like me, you probably find yourself leaning towards certain brands because you hear good things about them or you’ve had good experiences in the past. I tend to do this most with items I use only on occasion, like when buying paints or appliances. One of the more highly regarded paint brands is Sherwin Williams. However, this paint isn’t available in every store.
If you live in the Midwest, you’re likely familiar with the popular home improvement store Menards. If you’re one of the people who shop at Menards and also want to stick with the Sherwin Williams brand, you’ll be disappointed to find out the retail shop doesn’t carry the brand.
This doesn’t mean that you have no options if you want to support the Menards stores or Sherwin Williams brand. Menards offers several brands of paint from which you can choose. Below, we’ll look at who Menards is, what brands they offer, and where you can still get Sherwin Williams paints.
Contents
Who Is Menards?
In 1958, John Menard Jr. founded the home improvement store in Eau Claire, WI. It remains family-owned today but has expanded over the years to 14 different Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Today, Menards falls just behind Home Depot and Lowe’s as one of the most successful home improvement chains in America.
Menards prides itself on providing name-brand materials at low prices. With that in mind, Menards sells products that they also can stand behind. They want to provide paint and other products that are of good quality at a reasonable price. But this is not the reason that Sherwin Williams is not available at Menards.
Where Can You Buy Sherwin Williams?
So why can’t you get Sherwin Williams paints at Menards? This is a pretty simple answer. Sherwin Williams has an exclusive deal with Lowe’s. This means you will not find the paint or its exact colors at Menards or Home Depot.
But what if you’ve fallen in love with the Sherwin Williams 2022 color of the year, Evergreen Fog? Walmart, Home Depot, Menards, and other hardware stores offer color matching, so they can get as close to that color as possible. But, why be locked in with one specific color? With Menards’ color match technology, you can take in anything (even your favorite food) and pull out a color you want for your room.
Along with that, there is a funny workaround if you are dedicated to the Sherwin Williams brand. In 2017, Sherwin Williams acquired the Valspar Corporation. This means that Valspar technically falls under the Sherwin Williams umbrella and must meet its standards. Valspar is sold at many stores, including Walmart, Ace Hardware, and Lowe’s. Unfortunately, Menard’s does not carry Valspar paints either.
If you’re not a fan of Lowe’s but still want Sherwin Williams paint, look for a Sherwin Williams corporate store near you.
What Does Menards Have?
Menards offers a wide variety of paints to help meet your every need. There is a lot needed to make your project look perfect, and Menards makes sure to carry all equipment and paint types you may need. From spray paint and waterproofing paint to stains and sealers, Menards can meet all your needs as long as you know what you need.
Menards carries many brands, despite not having Sherwin Williams on its shelves. The most common brands you’ll find at Menards are Dutch Boy, Pittsburgh Paints and Stains, and Zinsser. You will also find Rust-Oleum, Lucite, Conco, and ECOBOND to a lesser degree at the store.
No matter the room you’re working in, Menards carries paint in flat, satin, high gloss, semi-gloss, and eggshell. Most paints offered are paint and primer in one, which will cut down on your prep and paint times. Pittsburgh Paints and Stains also sells a FastDry interior/exterior paint that can cut down on dry times between coats.
Menards’ Buying Guide
So now that you are aware of Menards color match technology, there are a few other technology advances that can make your life easier, thanks to Menards. They know that inspiration can come in the strangest places, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have as many options available to you at any given time. Menards includes a buying guide to help guarantee you love your color.
Menards wants you to feel confident in the colors you select, so the first option for easier selection is color swatches. These are free and can be taken home and compared to other items in your home. Usually, I’ll take several shades and tones of the color I like and tape each of them to my wall for a couple of days. This allows me to see what the paint will look like in the room with sun and artificial light.
Another option for this is purchasing a sample of the color you select. Menards sells small sample containers of their brands that you can paint directly onto your wall or onto a board that can be attached to the wall. This is a great way to see how the color dries in your home.
Menards also has links on their webpage to link you directly to the color visualizers for their top three paint brands: Pittsburgh Paint, Dutch Boy, and Zinsser. These online tools provide preloaded rooms that you can apply their paint colors in to see what the finished product would look like. While these aren’t perfect representations for your room, they can help you narrow your color selections before going to the store.
The final guarantee is that Menards has a 30-day return window for any unopened paints. While you can’t turn in the samples that you’ve used on your walls, you can feel better knowing that your selection has a fair return policy. This is especially good for those of us who want to buy extra gallons of paint to make sure the colors all match identically. After all, how many times have you brought two few cans of paint and then gotten another gallon only to find a slight shade variant?
