Midwest hardware retailer Nuts and Bolts will open a new location in Overland Park, Kan., April 26.

As previously reported, the store in the Kansas City area will be the company’s fifth location, and will occupy a building vacated by a sporting goods retailer. The new, 16,000 square foot Nuts and Bolts hardware store will adopt the Destination True Value format, design and merchandising concepts. 

The store is planning an official grand opening ceremony May 26-28.

Menards is looking to open as many as six stores in the Kansas City metro area, according to an article in the Kansas City Business Journal.

The Wichita Eagle reported that the Dondlinger family of Dondlinger and Sons Construction plans to add two more Williams Ace Hardware stores. 

The Goddard and Andover, Kan., locations are expected to open in the coming months. The family already owns the Williams Ace Hardware in Wichita.

According to an article in the Wichita Business Journal, Worthington Industries has no plans for workforce reductions in its new Maize, Kan., plant. 

Columbus, Ohio-based Worthington took over the Maize plant, where pressure cylinders are made, from Coleman Co. According to the newspaper, Worthington bought the plant for $23 million. It has about 70 employees.

Lenexa, Kan.-based Westlake Hardware's Zombie Preparedness Center makes zombies the centerpiece of a multimedia marketing campaign that's really aimed at humans. 

The company's Zombie Preparedness Center has about 15,000 fans on Facebook, and it includes some homemade marketing videos disguised as breaking news about zombie protests and zombie-friendly shopping. 

The campaign's website allows the user to click on one of two tabs: "I am human" or "Me zombie."

Animal lovers and shopping mall owners are waging a stealth battle over a prairie dog colony next to a Home Depot store in Hutchinson, Kan. According to an article in the Hutch News, the colony of burrowing rodents, which has existed next to the store for years, recently began expanding into open land south of the mall. So the property management has been placing sandbags on top of the new holes for several weeks. 

Luxury appliance maker Thermador and Portfolio Kitchen & Home, the Midwest’s kitchen and home design resource, announced today the launch of the Thermador Culinary Studio with more than eight live professional appliances at Portfolio’s Flagship Store in the heart of Kansas City.

DuPont changed its Tyvek Distributor Geographic Market Area (GMA). Effective immediately, the GMA encompassing portions of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas formerly represented by Four States Supply, has been assigned to Weatherization Partners, Limited (WPL).

A 25-year-old firefighter was charged with misdemeanor theft In Joplin, Mo., for allegedly looting a Home Depot store after a tornado destroyed the building, according to an article in the Joplin Globe. 

Matthew Page was one of three firefighters dismissed June 9 by the town of Baxter Springs, Kan., for alleged misconduct during the emergency response to the tornado. But Joplin authorities said they only had enough evidence to charge one of the suspects.

There wasn’t a lot of media attention on Reading, Kan., last week, when a tornado touched down on the night of May 21 and wiped out most of the town. The press corps was focused on Joplin, Mo., and Reading (rhymes with bedding) is a small farming community: Approximately 230 people were living in 40 homes; Reading Elementary School only has about 67 students.