Home improvement retailer Menards is postponing its plans to enter the Kansas City market over concerns that “economic conditions will worsen,” according to an article in The Kansas City Star.

Company spokesman Jeff Abbott told the newspaper the Eau Claire, Wis.-based company will not be building planned units in Belton, Mo.; Kansas City Northland and Overland Park, Kan. 

With an anticipated opening in fall 2014, the 349,000-sq.-ft. proposed IKEA store would be built along the eastern side of Interstate-35 at the Johnson Drive exit on 18 acres to be purchased from DDR Corp.

Merriam, Kan., is about eight miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based hardware store plans to open its fifth location next month, according to The Kansas City Star.

A sixth location for the company is also being scouted.

A 16,000-sq.-ft. store will be the operator’s third location in Overland Park. Plans are for the store to open in mid-April, according to the article.

Later in the summer, a store might open in Shawnee, but no deal has been cemented. Nuts and Bolts also currently operates in Independence and Bonner Springs.

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.

A federal grand jury has indicted Ronald Kiser, a former credit specialist for G.E. Consumer Finance, with bank fraud for diverting $465,000 worth of checks into his mother’s bank account. Kiser, 40, handled the Lowe’s account for G.E.