A modest barber decided to open a grocery store in the middle of the Great Depression to supply groceries to his customers. He bought some goods on credit and together with his 14-year old son, Fred, opened the North Side grocery in Greenville, Michigan. That was 1934. He later renamed the store Meijer’s Grocery.
Hendrick Meijer was the name of that barber. Hendrick was a Dutch immigrant who studied the trends witnessed in the grocery business and introduced self-service and shopping carts to his stores (concepts pioneered as early as 1916 by Piggly Wiggly grocery stores).
‘Thrifty Acres’ was the name of the store introduced by the Meijer’s in 1962, which saw the birth of the supercenter concept in the U.S. Customers could purchase all the goods they needed in one shopping trip because the store had a grocery section and department store. In 1949, the family-owned grocery opened two stores in Grand Falls, Michigan where the family had moved.
Fred Meijer took over the business, and in 1986, the name was changed to Meijer, which is still in use today with the tag line ‘Higher Standards, lower Prices.’ Fred died at 91 years of age in 2011 November.
On one hand, Meijer has been laying off staff and has implemented several cutbacks, but on the other, it has opened up new stores in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. The cutbacks were in a bid to compete effectively in the grocery business that had big players such as Walmart Corp.
Meijer are hypermarkets (combined department stores and groceries) or supercenters, which also feature Meijer branded gas stations and convenience stores with 199 stores in the country.
My name is Pete and I was in the store in Belleville, Michigan. To my disappointment in management and and the store I had got shocked by a cooler that was in the meat department. I had to go sit down for about an hour and not one of the store employees or managers checked on me. I was experiencing some chest pains and numbness on my right side. After I had started feeling better I followed up with the manager and I was very poorly treated.i had asked him if he had heard from his employee that I reported this to and his response was yes. He asked me if I was going to be ok and I told him I wasn’t sure. I think so. Now as an electrician my self I know this is a very dangerous kind of shock due to the constriction of the nervous system during this low grounding shock. The ability of releasing is hard due to the low amperage that is passing through the body. I am writing this comment because I am not a normal customer and I am from California where we do not have this store available. I think that I have suffered and still experiencing medical problems from this incident. I am very disappointed in the stores response and management. I would not recommend going to this location nor shopping at this mijer corporation.
Thank you for reading
Do you have Nathans Onion Rings in stock
For Rolling Meadows lication. Do u have Nathans Onion rings in stock now?
Do you carry strawberry/rhubarb pie
The article mentions the store in “Grand Falls, Michigan”… that’s GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan. We lived there, our family knew the Fred Meijer family as they attended our same church. Fred was a stand-up person full of integrity and honor. Great people and a great store.
do you carry Marie Calender brand pie crusts, not the pie, just crusts. They are made with vegeteable shortening, the ones you carry are made with lard.
First time in your store in Michigan City last week. What a susprise, it was clean, well lite and great selection of products, when you comming to Las Vegas, Nevada?
Clyde Putchaven
I’m looking for an Asian fish sauce for my dinning experience. Do you carry this?
I’m with eagle , dove reading in Springfield Ohio we are having a strong rating with over 200 students. We’re looking for sport of hot dog buns, any thing you can do to help would this,please call mike rogers, at 9374502940 thank you so much
I use to be able to get Azteca salad shells in the refrigerated section at Meijers in and around Grand Rapids Michigan. They don’t have them anywhere & I can’t find them. They make GREAT taco salads!!! Do you know which stores in and around Grand Rapids who carry this item?
I represent the Illinois Department of Corrections. I am sure you have heard of the financial problems Illinois is having. I am writing to ask if you ever have overstock in any of your products, and if you do would you please consider us as a source of giving, donating, the product. Our facilities can use almost anything you carry. Canned goods nearing expiration date, breads, vegetables and fruits, meats, ……… we will take almost anything you can give to us. We can always use bedding. clothing, dog food, ………..
If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call at 217/558/2200 or my address is: Marcy Morris, Illinois Department of Corrections, 1301 Concordia Ct., Springfield, Il 62794.
We sincerely hope you will give some consideration to this matter. We have found when the offenders are given something out of the oridnary to eat it seems to take some of the agitation away.
Thank you for anything you do to assist us.
Marcy Morris
217/558/2200 X6101