Meijer
US$20.5 billion (2022)[4][failed verification] | |
Owner | Meijer Companies LTD. (Meijer family (100%)) |
---|---|
Number of employees | 70,000 (Jan. 2020)[5] |
Website | meijer |
Meijer Inc. (
History
Meijer was founded as Meijer's in
The Greenville store was successful and additional Meijer groceries were opened in
In 1962 Meijer launched its modern format with a store at the corner of
Fred Meijer took over the company upon his father's death in 1964. Under his leadership, the Thrifty Acres stores became a success and were renamed Meijer in 1986. Meijer's stand-alone grocery operations continued until the early 1990s, as the larger stores became dominant. In 1985
Walton launched the first Hypermart USA store in 1987, opening only four stores, the last in 1990. An article in Forbes Magazine said Meijer understood the importance of the food business, and it was not something just tacked onto a discount store. The quality of the produce is very important; poor-quality produce sold by Walmart was the main reason for their lack of success. By contrast, surveys said then and now that Meijer ranks high on produce quality.[13]
During the mid-1990s, Meijer expanded to three additional states. The first location in
The first Meijer location in the Northwest Indiana region opened in August 1997 in Michigan City.[17] Following this, the Merrillville location opened to the public on August 4, 1998, while the Highland location officially opened on April 20, 1999.[18][19] The first Meijer location in the Chicago region opened on August 3, 1999, on Weber Road in Bolingbrook.[20] A year later in 2000, three Illinois Meijer locations would open in Aurora, St. Charles and Springfield. Another Meijer store in Bolingbrook opened on Boughton Road by The Promenade in May 2002, three years after the Weber Road location.[21]
With the increasing dominance of Walmart throughout the country during the 1990s and up to the present, Meijer is facing the effects of an intensely competitive retail industry. In late 2003 the company laid off 350 people from the corporate offices, distribution centers and field offices; a few months later, in January 2004, Meijer laid off 1,896 employees and managerial staff,[22] leading to speculation that the company was losing profitability and market share. A marketing professor, Dr. Ben Rudolph of Grand Valley State University near Meijer's corporate headquarters, lambasted this move, saying they "apparently blinked" and that Meijer's "decision was driven by panic".[23] Continuing cutbacks in 2006, the company outsourced 81 information technology positions to India.[24]
In 2003, the company announced that all new Meijer stores would feature an entirely new format and company image, complete with a new logo intended to make the Meijer stores seem "friendly" and inviting. The company hired New York City's
In May 2007, the first LEED-certified Meijer store opened in the second phase of the Fairlane Green development in Allen Park, Michigan. In July 2007 Meijer announced to the Michigan press it would be "restructuring" its Team Leader management positions in all 181 stores, stating layoffs would be "minimal" and necessary "to handle more sophisticated products such as flat-screen TVs and high-priced wines". Their spokesperson also said the changes were "not about a labor reduction", but fitting people into the right roles. No corporate staff or hourly workers were directly affected.[27] In August 2007, the store announced they were cutting about 500 managers (12% of existing management staff). The 500 were given severance packages, while other managers were transferred to other stores or "reassigned to different positions".[28][29]
In 2009, the chain announced a new concept in the Chicago region called Meijer Marketplace which comprises smaller stores that focus more on grocery items and pharmacy.[30] Four such stores were eventually opened, in Niles (2010), Orland Park (2010), Melrose Park (2011), and Berwyn (2012). The Niles store closed on June 18, 2016. The Melrose Park and Berwyn stores closed on June 17, 2017 (the Berwyn store space now houses Tony's Fresh Market, which had relocated from its previous location at the former Dominick's store in North Riverside in 2018), leaving the Orland Park store as the last remaining small-format Meijer in operation.[31]
On November 25, 2011, Frederik Meijer died at the age of 91. In 2013, Meijer opened its 200th supercenter in Swartz Creek, Michigan.
Meijer opened its first store within the city of
In 2014, Meijer expanded into their southern-most store, Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a new development in the growing Gary Farms retail corridor.[33] Meijer's parking lot also includes a Tesla supercharger.[34]
Meijer bought the largely vacant Memorial Mall in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in March 2015. Much of the existing structure was demolished, and replaced with a new store in April 2019.[35]
In 2017–2018 Meijer expanded into the Northeastern Wisconsin market with stores in
In 2019, Meijer expanded into the
Operations
Meijer stores are classified as supercenters or hypermarkets (a superstore that combines groceries and department store goods in the same store). Most stores (about 80%) also feature an adjacent Meijer-branded gas station and convenience store. Several Meijer gas stations feature alternative fuels, such as E85, biodiesel, and compressed natural gas as well as electric vehicle charging stations.[45]
Meijer has 259 stores in Michigan, Indiana, northern and central Illinois, central and western Ohio, and Kentucky. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most Meijer stores were open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, closing only at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and reopening at 6 a.m. on December 26. In 2013 Meijer ranked No. 19 in Forbes list of top 20 Private Companies.
Other Meijer-owned stores
In addition to the original Meijer supermarkets and hypermarkets, Meijer opened several concept stores in the 1970s and 1980s. The first were specialty clothing store chains called Copper Rivet, Sagebrush, and Casual Court. Each store focused on a different form of brand-name clothing: Copper Rivet sold
In 1980, Meijer began a discount pharmacy chain called Spaar (from the Dutch word for "save"), which opened four stores in 1980 in former Meijer supermarket locations. The Spaar stores were sold to Pontiac, Michigan-based Perry Drug Stores by the mid-1980s.[48]
One year after launching the Spaar brand, in 1981, Meijer began opening Meijer Square stores, which were traditional discount department stores lacking a full grocery section. Fourteen locations of
Meijer opened its first warehouse club store, SourceClub, in 1992. The concept proved unsuccessful in competition against Sam's Club and Costco, and all seven SourceClub stores were closed in 1994. The location in Fraser, Michigan, was converted to a regular Meijer store, while the rest were shuttered or sold off.[48]
Small-format markets
In 2018, Meijer opened Bridge Street Market, a 37,000-square-foot (3,400-square-meter) concept grocery store in Grand Rapids.[51] It was followed by four similar markets: Woodward Corner Market in Royal Oak, Michigan (2020);[52] Capital City Market in Lansing (2020);[53] Rivertown Market in Detroit (2021);[54] and Fairfax Market in Cleveland (2024).[55]
Meijer Grocery
Introduced in 2023, Meijer Grocery is a standard-sized grocery store concept. The first two locations, in Lake Orion and Macomb Township, Michigan, opened on January 26, 2023.[56]
Fresh Thyme Market
During the 2010s, Meijer appeared to control or own the regional organic food supermarket chain Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, but official records were not very clear about the relationship between the two companies.[57][58][59][60] In 2021, the organic food supermarket chain began to offer a "broad assortment of Meijer branded items".[61]
In April 2014, Fresh Thyme founder Chris Sherrell opened the first store in his chain in Mount Prospect, Illinois.[62] Two months later, Fresh Thyme open its first Indiana store in Indianapolis.[63] The opening of the first store in Ohio followed in July in Columbus.[64] By the end of 2014, the chain had nine stores in the Midwest.[59]
By January 2024, Fresh Thyme had 70 stores across 10 Midwestern states.[65]
Marketing and sponsorship
In 2006, Meijer donated money to
In 2014, Meijer was the first retailer to accept both
On May 25, 2023, the Detroit Tigers announced that Meijer had become their official jersey patch partner. Meijer also sponsors the Detroit Red Wings with their logo on their helmets.
Store design
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2021) |
Meijer stores are typically designed with the supermarket section to one side and the general merchandise section to the other side. The chain's stores are almost always constructed from the ground up, with very few Meijer stores having been converted from other retailers. Exceptions include the:
- Super Kmartstores, though the latter was significantly renovated during conversion to Meijer and the former would also receive a significant renovation in 2021
- Grant City store which closed in 1977, and has since undergone significant renovations,[69]most recently in 2023
- Sterling Heights, Michigan, the former location on Metropolitan Parkway (which relocated to Madison Heights, Michigan, in 2002, and was subsequently demolished for Target and Lowe's stores), which was also a former Grant City,
- Fraser, Michigan, which Meijer converted from its failed SourceClub concept store
- Newark, Ohio (which closed in 2013 and was subsequently converted into a Kroger Marketplace store), which was one of the stores Meijer purchased from Twin Fair.[48]
Some stores built in the 1960s and 1970s, including a since-demolished location on Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township, Michigan (which marked the chain's entry into the Flint market in 1972), included a balcony, containing service tenants such as a barber shop and nail salon. During the late 1990s, McDonald's restaurants also operated inside Meijer stores, primarily in those with balconies, though some locations without balconies like Taylor, Michigan, Muncie, Indiana, and the location on Alexis Road in Toledo, Ohio, also had McDonald's locations; in addition, the first stores in the Detroit area featured a short-lived fast food concept called Thrifty's Kitchen, which also operated a standalone location in front of the Meijer on Alpine Avenue in Walker.[70] Most stores feature a sit-down café, while some also feature a Starbucks coffee shop or a Subway restaurant. Stores built between 1989 and 1993 featured a curved wall of windows that ran along the area between the entrances, examples include many early locations in Ohio and the Midland, Michigan store (many of these such stores have since been renovated into the current exterior design described below).
Early in the 1990s, Meijer developed new integrated prototypes for their rollouts. One example was the "whimsical" design prototype introduced with the 1994 expansion into Indiana. Different shapes and roofing designs created the facade of the building. Most notable was the yellow pineapple constructed from yellow ceramic brick and glass blocks. The different shapes on the facade were to introduce Meijer to Indiana as a "store of discovery".
Also notable was the use of a large translucent wall above the grand concourse facing the registers. This allowed natural light to filter into the area above the registers without actual windows. Another feature of these stores was the introduction of grey concrete panels and silver framing on windows and doors. Slight variations of this prototype were also introduced with the 1995 expansion into Illinois and the 1996 reentry into Kentucky.
On August 5, 1997, the store in Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, debuted a new prototype that evolved out of the mid-1990s prototype. This was the Presidential prototype, in which the logo was moved to the center of the building. Later Meijer stores of this design introduced the Meijer Fresh logo with the then-current Meijer logo and a large cursive "Fresh" on the right of the Meijer name. Most of these signs have since been phased out in favor of the current logo, with the lower case "meijer" (in red) with blue dots over the 'i' and 'j'. In the year 2000 the Presidential prototype was replaced with the Village Square prototype, which featured fake storefronts running across the front of the building and a barn-like section on which the Meijer logo was situated. That prototype, however, was soon replaced by the Signature Series prototype, which removed the fake storefronts, which itself was replaced in the mid-2000s with the current prototype, which features emphasis on the entrances, which feature towering glass walls with a tilted roof, resulting in an "eyebrow" appearance.
"Hypermarket"
Meijer was the first retailer to launch the "supermarket" or "superstore" in the US, combining a multitude of merchandise under one roof, when they opened the first Thrifty Acres in 1962.[71] Meijer describes itself as a grocery chain that added general merchandise to their grocery stores in 1962.
Controversies and criticism
Acme Township, Michigan
In February 2007, Meijer was involved in an effort to recall the elected officials of Acme Township in Grand Traverse County, because of the officials' reluctance to allow a new store along M-72 within the rural township east of Traverse City. Meijer retained Seyferth, Spaulding and Tennyson, a Grand Rapids public relations firm, to help orchestrate the recall effort.[72]
Records indicate the PR firm retained by Meijer had arranged a meeting with a small nonprofit organization which favored the Meijer store, but had not yet formally taken a position on the recall. With the persuasion of the PR firm, the organization, known as the "Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government", formed a recall committee and began to promote the recall election. Seyferth researched the plausibility of a recall, wrote justification for the recall and oversaw the agenda for the meeting with Acme Taxpayers.[72] The PR firm revised the organization's website and logo, devised talking points and campaign literature, and wrote ghost letters to Traverse City newspapers. The recall committee did not disclose any of the PR firm's assistance, or its affiliation with Meijer. The company was fined $190,000 for its actions. The store eventually opened in November 2015,[73] with thousands attending the long-awaited grand opening.[74]
Treatment of LGBT community
Meijer scored 0% on the 2008
In 2009, Meijer's score began to improve after the company amended its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation. Other retail and grocery rivals' scores are
In 2020, Meijer's score increased to a 100% with the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which joined 680 major U.S. businesses that also scored a 100% that year.[77]
Firing of a Christian employee
The federal government sued Meijer on behalf of a former employee for violating her civil rights by firing her because she would not work on Sundays.[78] Debra Kerkstra was fired in 2001 for refusing to work on Sunday because of religious convictions. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused Meijer of religious discrimination, and Meijer settled the case after paying $22,000 to Kerkstra[79] and agreeing to implement procedures to prevent repeat occurrences.
See also
Citations
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- ^ "Store Locator - Find Your Local Meijer Store, Pharmacy, or Gas Station - Meijer.com". meijer.com. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- ^ "Retailer Meijer picks former pharmacist as new president - mlive.com". October 2, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
- ^ a b "Top 100 Retailers 2021 List". National Retail Federation. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
- ^ "#13 Meijer". www.forbes.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ "Ask a Question." Meijer. Retrieved on December 25, 2012. "Meijer 2929 Walker Ave., NW Grand Rapids, MI 49544-9424"
- ^ "Street Map." (Archived January 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine) City of Walker. Retrieved on December 25, 2012. The headquarters is at A4, labeled as "Meijer Headquarters"
- ^ "The Largest Private Companies". Forbes.com. December 1, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
- ^ a b Meijer 1984.
- ^ Meijer 1984, p. 20.
- ^ 'Discount Merchandiser Magazine, July 1986 issue, page 61, info on first Thrifty Acres store'
- ^ "Traverse City Record Eagle Archives, May 21, 1977, p. 67". newspaperarchive.com. May 21, 1977. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- ^ ' Forbes Magazine, February 13, 1995 issue, page 55, "Squeezing the Tomatoes"
- ^ "Meijer plans to open Grape Road store on April 19". The South Bend Tribune. March 31, 1994.
- ^ "New superstores shaking up economy around Champaign". The Times. April 6, 1995.
- ^ "Meijer hyperstores boost competition in Southwest Ohio". The Cincinnati Enquirer.
- ^ "Grocery experience serves chain well in competitive market". The Times. May 18, 1997.
- ^ "Hordes at the Meijer doors". The Times. August 5, 1998.
- ^ Sharon Porta (April 21, 1999). "Meijer store opens in Highland". The Times.
- ^ "Shoppers buy into grand opening". Chicago Tribune. August 5, 1999.
- ^ Annemarie Mannion (March 2, 2002). "Billboard no obstacle to road work". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Meijer cuts deep". MiBiz.com. February 9, 2004. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ^ "Why did Meijer blink?". MiBiz.com. January 12, 2004. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ^ "Meijer outsourcing jobs to India". planetoutsourcing.org. February 10, 2006. Archived from the original on June 17, 2006. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
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- ^ Adweek, "Meijer Stores Pick DeVito Verdi", April 3, 2003, retrieved June 17, 2009
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- ^ "500 Meijer Managers get cut across midwest". Wzzm13.com. August 2007. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
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- ^ "Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers - Photos - April 13, 2014 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
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- ^ https://apnews.com/general-news-3709738c46754348ace2993c76a0ab09
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- WDIV.
- ^ "Meijer Opens Fairfax Market in Cleveland Innovation District". Meijer. January 16, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
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- ^ Ho, Sally (April 23, 2014). "Fresh Thyme Farmers Market opens in Mount Prospect". Chicago Tribune.
- Indianapolis Star.
- ^ "Fresh Thyme's Sawmill store to open Aug. 13 offering natural foods, beauty products". The Columbus Dispatch. July 17, 2014.
- ^ Inklebarger, Timothy (January 26, 2024). "Fresh Thyme Market features local products via Naturally Chicago". Supermarket News.
- ^ "Frederik Meijer Chair in Dutch Language and Culture". Archived from the original on February 6, 2007.
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- MLive. Archived from the originalon February 15, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
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- ^ Martinez, Shandra (November 5, 2010). "Controversial Meijer store opens, draws thousands". Mlive.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
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- ^ "Corporations Getting More Gay-Friendly". Fool.com. November 6, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- ^ "Corporate Equality Index 2016" (PDF). Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
- ^ "Meijer Named a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality". Meijer Newsroom.
- ^ "Christian News, Religion Headlines Commentary". Crosswalk.com. July 11, 2003. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- ^ "Voice of Reason" (PDF). Arlinc.org. 2003. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
References
- Meijer, Hank (1984). Thrifty Years: The Life of Hendrik Meijer. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-0038-1.