Meijer

[tamias6]

Meijer to build a LEED certified store:

AT&T Yahoo Article

Same Article on Architect Online

Edited May 22, 2007 by tamias6

[GR8scott]

I'm pretty sure the 28th/kzoo meijer was not renivated in the 80s, I remember going there with my grandma when it was the older style with another entrance and more checkout on the west side, as well as the Mc Donalds upstairs and the slimmer old 70s styly arch and that was probably the early 90s

[tamias6]

Ha! I remember when McD's used to be tucked under the arch. I don't think it lasted very long though.

[egrguy]

The Yahoo article mentions that Meijer has plans for 7 new stores for 2008. None of these are in the W Michigan area that I am aware of. Will most of these be built out of state? Anyone know the locations?

[GR1]

The Yahoo article mentions that Meijer has plans for 7 new stores for 2008. None of these are in the W Michigan area that I am aware of. Will most of these be built out of state? Anyone know the locations?

2 in Ohio, 2 in Detroit Suburbs and 1 in Chicago suburbs...not sure about the other 2 yet.

[GR1]

for 2007, a store in Allen park just opened and stores for Dewitt and Lennox Twp are scheduled to open this year.

[Veloise]

It would appear that I am not the only non-fan of the Grand Hotel merch. More and more clearance signs appear over the polos, bath towels, rocking chairs...the stuff is just not moving.

Fred, how about a Thinker Summer Vacation t-shirt? "Thinker World Tour"?

[still pushing for that local souvenir product line]

[tamias6]

Yesterday the GH line display was moved into the grocery side of the Alpine Store to attract more attention so Meijer may have encountered a hard sell to its customers.

[Veloise]

What fun! I don't know what it's supposed to be, but it looks like someone had a good time creating it.

(Standale store, outdoor garden paver area)

[Rizzo]

Meijer's here in Rolling Meadows stuck the Grand Hotel stuff out a month ago in the grocery section to sell taffy, fudge, and various clothing. I don't know if Metro GR Meijer's have this, but the Meijer's here have flat panel displays at check out playing a network called, "ABC In store television" or something or other.... They featured some promotional commercials and such that also feature the Grand Hotel experience.

Edited May 25, 2007 by Rizzo

[MuskeMI]

Hope this is OK...but there's some love for Meijer over at The Consumerist right now. If you're not a regular visitor to their site, they generally post a lot of cases of corporate customer service gone horribly wrong. Maybe once a day do they post something positive. Some nice free (well, not entirely free) publicity for Meijer.

[Veloise]

Meijer's here in Rolling Meadows stuck the Grand Hotel stuff out a month ago in the grocery section to sell taffy, fudge, and various clothing. I don't know if Metro GR Meijer's have this, but the Meijer's here have flat panel displays at check out playing a network called, "ABC In store television" or something or other.... They featured some promotional commercials and such that also feature the Grand Hotel experience.

Yup, we've got the TVs in the bigger stores. (I don't believe they are at Alpine or 28th & K'zoo. Yet.) Haven't noticed any GH promos (I don't watch TV at home; why would I pay attention to it in a store?).

GH merch moves around here too. Started out near the garden area, and in some stores it's by grocery. The sweets seem to be finding new homes, but the shirts-towels-flip flops are just sitting there.

[tamias6]

Here's a picture of the Rivertown Crossing Meijer located just east of Rivertown Crossings Mall.

This store was built on an out lot just outside Rivertown Crossing's perimeter dive after the mall itself was opened. Its market reach covers much of Grandville, southwestern Grand Rapids, western fringes of Wyoming and areas south to Byron Center. It once served Walker south of Lake Michigan Drive before the Standale Meijer was opened.

Measuring 195,000 sq. ft. this Meijer is on the smaller end of the Meijer size spectrum. However its significance lays in the fact that this store is one of the first Meijer stores in which Meijer really made allot of efforts to cut the cost of building and operating stores. Also it marks the end of an era as this store is the last one to have been built under an old Meijer layout and feature the old company logo. In short the Rivertown Crossing Meijer is hybrid of old and new.

Interestingly this store's sales floor is one of the last to be laid out in an "old school" Meijer fashion. Consumer's Electronics, music and video, video games, and photo lab, which would have made up E4 in a new store is broken into 3 separate dept. The Photo lab is located to front of the store next to seasonal. Consumers Electronics, Music, and Videos are located along the center section of the sales floor's back wall, while video games are placed in the toy dept. Also like older Meijer stores, the retail concourse lines directly up with the Retail Entrance with clothing to one side and two rows of general merchandise aisles to the other. A new Meijer store doglegs the retail concourse diagonally from the entrance and then runs it between the two rows general merchandise aisles giving a sense of more space.

However unlike older Meijer stores, the rather unique interior graphics program is very spartan to cut coasts. Also this Meijer prototyped some of the elements found in new Meijer stores. These include low and wide grocery aisles, a pharmacy located in the front of the store and featuring a drive up window, unobstructed sight lines, and some of the premium services found in a new Meijer store's deli, bakery, and meat and seafood counters, just to name off a few things. In addition, this building prototyped the use of prefabricated walls which reduces labor costs and speeds up construction time. The construction methods used here are still used to this day in building new Meijer stores. It also features the efficient back room found in all New Meijer stores. It was also one of the first Meijer stores to feature a drive up Pharmacy Window.

In essence entering this store is like entering two different worlds mixed together. One being the old Meijer, and the other the new Meijer. This results in a store that is unlike any other Meijer.

My personal opinion of this store are as follows

Pros:

Pharmacy located at the grocery side of the store instead of retail side which makes for good convenience.

Photo lab conveniently located upfront

Spotless upkeep. Its one of the cleanest Meijer stores I've been in.

Very well laid out grocery section

Cons:

Most of the retail section does not feature adjacencies which makes finding things a bit of a chore.

Double row Checkout lanes makes for a bit of confusion

Produce dept. is a bit cramped

[tamias6]

Here's some pictures of the Knapp Corner Meijer located at the NE corner of the Greater Grand Rapids Metro Area on corner Knapp St. and the East Belt Line. Serving the entire NE quadrant of the Metro Area, it is one of the busiest Meijer stores around. What sets this place apart from the rest of the pack is its shear size. With a sprawling foot print tipping the scales at over 225,000 sq. ft. this giant among giants, is the largest Meijer store ever built in the GR area and ranks among the largest stores in the entire chain. To my knowledge, the only Meijer store that surpasses this one in size is a 250,000 sq. ft. monster built in Lansing during the 1970's.

Another distinguishing point about this store is its controversial beginnings that is still debated to this day. Meijer's proposal to build this store was meet with heavy and very vocal resistance from Grand Rapids Twp. residences on the premise of the store generating excessive traffic. After a very tough fight, Meijer finally outflanked the Township's resistance by invoking the City of Grand Rapids to annex the location and give Meijer an unobstructed path to get the store built.

Recently in response to increased competition and a possible Wal-Mart super center to go in nearby, the interior of this store has been reconfigured to Meijer's latest store format. However many vestiges of the stores previous layout and graphics program can still be seen which results in a unique and quite pleasing blend of old and new.

Now for some Pictures:

The Store Front. This is a prime example of what I call the Dutch themed look Meijer was going for at the time. This format was replaced by the ill-fated "Village Square" format premiered by the Cascade Meijer.

The Garden Center and the recently added Drive Up Pharmacy Window. Like any old school Meijer, the Pharmacy was located at the back of the store. However to conform to the latest store format, the Pharmacy was moved to the front of the store and received a drive up window.

Moving down the front drive. I like the unusually deep entry canopies and the dutch themed gables. As these features give the store a welcoming appearance and do a great job at visually breaking up the shear mass of the place. I also believe the craftsmanship that went into this place is astonishing for a building of this nature. The fit and finishes show no signs of wear and tear or any neglect despite the ten years this building has existed thus far and its very heavy use as one of the busiest Meijer stores in the area. Despite the addition of the pharmacy drive up window and the retrofitting of the entrances to house cart rooms, this store looks as pristine as the day of its grand opening.

A parklike outdoor eating area. This is the only Meijer that I know of that has this feature. Also notice the dedication plaque. Apparently this store holds some kind of special meaning to Meijer or the location has some history Meijer felt compelled to Honor. Maybe what is explained on that plaque is what the residences of GR twp. were trying to protect other than fears of excessive traffic. Anybody that has some inside knowledge feel free to elaborate.

Edited May 29, 2007 by tamias6

[Raildudes dad]

Another distinguishing point about this store is its controversial beginnings that is still debated to this day. Meijer's proposal to build this store was meet with heavy and very vocal resistance from Grand Rapids Twp. residences on the premise of the store generating excessive traffic. After a very tough fight, Meijer finally outflanked the Township's resistance by invoking the City of Grand Rapids to annex the location and give Meijer an unobstructed path to get the store built.

I'm not sure if you know but the orginal location proposed was where the Meijer Gardens are today. After a referendum on the site Meijers moved north and across the Beltline to purchase property and annex to GR.

[pcdoctor]

Did that meijer store get remodeled to fit meijer's latest corporate format? Does it have an e4 dept? Or is it still like the Grandville Meijer store?

[tamias6]

Did that meijer store get remodeled to fit meijer's latest corporate format?....

Yes it has. However the best of the store's old layout and features have been retained, thus creating a very good looking hybrid of old and new.

When entering the store one will find that the cart rooms and entry vestibules are open to each other separated only by a knee wall.

Onward to the grocery section. Other than the addition of a Starbucks coffee complete with its own sit down area, the installation of the new format's alcoholic beverage section and cosmetic revisions to comply to the new format, the grocery section is pretty much as it was when the store was first built. What is neat though is that the blue band on the perimeter walls of the sales floor where never replace by a painted one as was done in the Alpine Store. The Knapp Corner's blue band also houses ambient lighting. This gives the walls a very cool 3-D effect. In addition the awnings marking the locations of the deli, bakery, meat counters, etc, are not used here. Instead the materials found on the awnings are applied to a flat backer board and lettering applied on top. Interestingly, Meijer has kept the original cafe intact and open to the public. That and the Star buck's cafe makes this store the only Meijer in the area to feature two cafe's instead of one, a demonstration of this store's gargantuan size.

Throughout the store the flooring is original. However elements of the new format's flooring such as the wood floors of the clothing dept and alcoholic beverages. and the blue boarder and inset tiles of the concourses are graphed into the original white and gray checkerboard design of the floor. This produces a very interesting look.

Up on the ceiling the store's original but very pleasant lighting has been retain along with the untiled drop ceiling grid hovering over the central section of the sales floor. This provides a nice visual interest above and beyond the ceilings of new Meijer stores.

As for E4, I did not have a chance to have a good look at it. However I believe it is located in the back center of the store instead of its standard back corner location. This is due to the fact this store features front and rear customer access to it large the garden center. Also, the Knapp Corner's E4 was installed long before the store's overall upgrade to the current format.

In contrast, as prescribed by the new format, the pharmacy is located at the front of the store in the retail end. However, the pharmacy counter faces towards the back of the store instead of being pointed towards the checkout lanes. This is due to the fact that the store's vast size gives the pharmacy along with health and beauty more room to spread out along the front wall instead of down the side wall.

Other than the insertion of tobacco lanes, similar to those found at the Alpine Meijer, the checkout lanes are original to the store. However they now feature the carousel bagging system and stubby versions of new format's lane numbers. Even though the checkout lane fixtures themselves are original, they are very unusual looking. There sleek curvaceous design makes the checkout lanes look like something out of the Starship Enterprise than a retail space.

Finally, my favorite feature, the vast clerestory window located over the in-store tenant alcoves, spanning from entrance to entrance has been thankfully retained. The green opaque glass floods the entire sales floor in a soft ethereal light giving the entire store a very relaxing atmosphere despite the hustle and bustle. The clerestory window is something I wish Meijer would have carried over into its newer stores.

[pcdoctor]

Today, I decided to make a visit out to the meijer store on Clyde Park avenue and 54th street. I've been wanting to know for quite sometime of how that store was like. So here's the verdict:

The meijer store still has it's old meijer signs in capitol letters. They can be found on the building, the sign, and the back of the building if your on the freeway. It has a pharmacy drive up window on the north side of the building. That is on the left side of the retail entrance. Now I must say that building is quite old as well. Where the meijer sign is on front of the building, there is an arch above it. That's a pretty cool arch.

OK it's time to go inside the store. I entered the store via the retail entrance. The retail entrance is on the left side of the building if your facing the front of the store. There are two sides of outer doors. The north and south side doors. I went in through the south side doors. If you look on the wall of the exterior, it says Meijer guests, please select a cart before entering the store. I don't know why they have that up there, there are carts in the store. Just right when you enter, there are carts on the left side. Anyways, you will notice a welcome sign that is up above facing west. You can see it in the entrance if your outside. The sign is a lit up sign. And the entrance itself is quite big, some penny horses can be found with gumball machines, stuff like that.

I get in and start walking down the front promenade of the store. Just inside if you turn right, they have a chase bank right there on the right side. Move a little ways down and I believe it's the walk in medical center. Then Olan Mills, then a barber shop, or it's either way around. Then walk down further and you have the bakery which is located in the front promenade rather than in the grocery side of the store. However, this bakery sells like donuts and stuff like that. There are more bakery products on the sales floor. OK moving on. I think then after that, we are near the grocery entrance and the guest services desk is located right there. They still call it guest services at that store. The lottery and tobacco area is right there as well. So there is no tobacco lanes there which I like. There are 34 checkout lanes. There are u-scanners in there as well, but I did not see the new full size ones at that store.

OK, now about the interior of the store itself. It also hold meijer's latest corporate format in that store, but it's not the same as Alpine or Wilson, but it's very similar. The checkout lanes itself, the lane number signs are not on a pole like at Alpine. The drop ceilings there are very low as well in the lanes and the front promenade. I would only say like 10 ft high. That's much lower than meijer on Alpine. Also, it's drop ceiling throughout the entire store. No roof trusses can be found anywhere. Which makes the store look like it's a small store. Also, it only looks like parts of floor tiling were replaced when they went to the latest corporate format, a lot of the tile on the floor looked like old original tile that's been there for quite sometime. There is blue borders, and wine aisles all have new tile and the baby center Aisles.

Heading to the produce department. I guess in size, it's smaller than Alpine's. We had trouble looking for grapes, but someone eventually told us where they were. The store also contains Delicious to go and the deli departments. They are also in the produce area like at Alpine, but with drop ceilings, it dosen't look too attractive.

I believe I counted 16 grocery aisles while there today. Also, one could notice that most of the coolers in that store are old coolers that weren't even replaced during it's conversion to the latest format. There are few jet black coolers though. The bottle return room is in the back concourse of the store. Right at around Aisles 6-7. Frozen foods are in the back of the store. They are Aisles 13-16. Also in the east back wall are the meat and seafood departments with seafood on the left and meat on the right. Of course, no new coolers there at all. Looks like the frozen food coolers have not been replaced in ages. Lighting in the grocery section of the store is mediocre. Not the greatest, yet not that bad.

Heading to the retail section. It too like Alpine has the latest signs that have the departments on them, some of them quite small due to the low drop ceilings. Also, some drop ceiling panels looked like they needed repair. Lighting was a little more poor in the retail section. So that needs to be improved.

Overall, I think when this meijer store was upgraded to it's latest corporate format, they just did the minimums pretty much. Just paint walls, put up new signs, and replace few floor tiles and added coolers. There was never an expansion of the store either.

One interesting thing at the store today. Some lady sets off the alarm at the grocery entrance and she knew that she paid for everything, stopped for a minute and then just took off. The greeter got the thing ready to demagnatize whatever item it was that set the alarm off, but she had taken off. She darted so fast.

One thing I would like to know. I could remember at one point that the store used to have different looking entrances. Can anyone remember when they were built to the current ones?

Edited June 4, 2007 by pcdoctor

[tamias6]

The Clyde Park Meijer and Cascade Meijer were nearly identical twins when they opened there doors back in the 80's. The only difference between the two is Cascade has groceries to the left while Clyde Park has groceries to the right. However since Cascade is a flagship store, it is upgraded more frequently than most other Meijer stores. As for Clyde Park, its retrofit to the latest format represent only the second renovation in its life. The first one added the Arch sign and a large cafe similar to the Knapp Corner Meijer. That cafe is located in the south west corner of the store as indicated by its light colored stuccoed facade embellished by a bank of large windows.

However the retrofit to the latest format closed the old Knapp corner style cafe in favor of a more modest cafe located between Delicious to Go and the grocery entrance. But Meijer never chose to demolish it or make any modifications to it. Thus the old cafe is still intact complete with windows and lighting. Even the old cafe's decor is intact though a bit neglected. Currently the portable fixtures displaying the breads cuts off access to the old cafe area while the old cafe itself is used for back room functions.

One other interesting point about the Clyde Park Meijer, it is the first Meijer store in the chain to replace employed baggers with the current carousel bagging system. The River Town Crossing, Jenison, Cascade, and Alpine Meijers soon followed.

Today, I decided to make a visit out to the meijer store on Clyde Park avenue and 54th street. I've been wanting to know for quite sometime of how that store was like. So here's the verdict:

The meijer store still has it's old meijer signs in capitol letters. They can be found on the building, the sign, and the back of the building if your on the freeway. It has a pharmacy drive up window on the north side of the building. That is on the left side of the retail entrance. Now I must say that building is quite old as well. Where the meijer sign is on front of the building, there is an arch above it. That's a pretty cool arch.

OK it's time to go inside the store. I entered the store via the retail entrance. The retail entrance is on the left side of the building if your facing the front of the store. There are two sides of outer doors. The north and south side doors. I went in through the south side doors. If you look on the wall of the exterior, it says Meijer guests, please select a cart before entering the store. I don't know why they have that up there, there are carts in the store. Just right when you enter, there are carts on the left side. Anyways, you will notice a welcome sign that is up above facing west. You can see it in the entrance if your outside. The sign is a lit up sign. And the entrance itself is quite big, some penny horses can be found with gumball machines, stuff like that.

I get in and start walking down the front promenade of the store. Just inside if you turn right, they have a chase bank right there on the right side. Move a little ways down and I believe it's Olan Mills there, then a barber shop, or it's either way around. Then walk down further and you have the bakery which is located in the front promenade rather than in the grocery side of the store. However, this bakery sells like donuts and stuff like that. There are more bakery products on the sales floor. OK moving on. I think then after that, we are near the grocery entrance and the guest services desk is located right there. They still call it guest services at that store. The lottery and tobacco area is right there as well. So there is no tobacco lanes there which I like. There are 34 checkout lanes. There are u-scanners in there as well, but I did not see the new full size ones at that store.

OK, now about the interior of the store itself. It also hold meijer's latest corporate format in that store, but it's not the same as Alpine or Wilson, but it's very similar. The checkout lanes itself, the lane number signs are not on a pole like at Alpine. The drop ceilings there are very low as well in the lanes and the front promenade. I would only say like 10 ft high. That's much lower than meijer on Alpine. Also, it's drop ceiling throughout the entire store. No roof trusses can be found anywhere. Which makes the store look like it's a small store. Also, it only looks like parts of floor tiling were replaced when they went to the latest corporate format, a lot of the tile on the floor looked like old original tile that's been there for quite sometime. There is blue borders, and wine aisles all have new tile and the baby center Aisles.

Heading to the produce department. I guess in size, it's smaller than Alpine's. We had trouble looking for grapes, but someone eventually told us where they were. The store also contains Delicious to go and the deli departments. They are also in the produce area like at Alpine, but with drop ceilings, it dosen't look too attractive.

I believe I counted 16 grocery aisles while there today. Also, one could notice that most of the coolers in that store are old coolers that weren't even replaced during it's conversion to the latest format. There are few jet black coolers though. The bottle return room is in the back concourse of the store. Right at around Aisles 6-7. Frozen foods are in the back of the store. They are Aisles 13-16. Also in the east back wall are the meat and seafood departments with seafood on the left and meat on the right. Of course, no new coolers there at all. Looks like the frozen food coolers have not been replaced in ages. Lighting in the grocery section of the store is mediocre. Not the greatest, yet not that bad.

Heading to the retail section. It too like Alpine has the latest signs that have the departments on them, some of them quite small due to the low drop ceilings. Also, some drop ceiling panels looked like they needed repair. Lighting was a little more poor in the retail section. So that needs to be improved.

Overall, I think when this meijer store was upgraded to it's latest corporate format, they just did the minimums pretty much. Just paint walls, put up new signs, and replace few floor tiles and added coolers. There was never an expansion of the store either.

One interesting thing at the store today. Some lady sets off the alarm at the grocery entrance and she knew that she paid for everything, stopped for a minute and then just took off. The greeter got the thing ready to demagnatize whatever item it was that set the alarm off, but she had taken off. She darted so fast.

One thing I would like to know. I could remember at one point that the store used to have different looking entrances. Can anyone remember when they were built to the current ones?

[WOT]

However since Cascade is a flagship store, it is upgraded more frequently than most other Meijer stores.

Does anyone know what is happening in the parking lot of the Cascade store? I went by there yesterday and their is fencing all around and it looks like construction prep?

[tamias6]

The last time I was at the Cascade Meijer which was month ago, it's parking lot looked like it was in rough shape. One could see allot of patches and the crack filler stuff used on the highways. (RaildudesDad might know the proper term for that) The Construction prep could be signs of crews about to redo the parking lot. Next time I'm down there, I'll keep my eyes out and camera at the ready.

[pcdoctor]

Oops, meant to post this in Plainfield Meijer topic. Question could be found there.

Edited June 4, 2007 by pcdoctor

[Veloise]

The last time I was at the Cascade Meijer which was month ago, it's parking lot looked like it was in rough shape. One could see allot of patches and the crack filler stuff used on the highways. (RaildudesDad might know the proper term for that) The Construction prep could be signs of crews about to redo the parking lot. Next time I'm down there, I'll keep my eyes out and camera at the ready.

Looks like they are moving forward with the drive-up/short-term parking for rotisserie chickens:

Edited June 5, 2007 by Veloise

[tamias6]

One would figure that punching a hole in the wall, adding a drive up window, and remarking the parking lot would not be that much trouble. But Geez that's about the same amount of equipment that was brought to the Alpine Meijer at the height of its renovation. So somethings bigger than just a door or a drive up window must be up. Or at least this drive up/short term parking/chicken thing must going to be something really special.

Looks like they are moving forward with the drive-up/short-term parking for rotisserie chickens:

[tamias6]

According to my calculations, the Knapp Corner Meijer is no longer the biggest Meijer store in GR.

Read post 393 in the Alpine Meijer Gets a New Face Thread.

Post 393 of the Alpine Meijer thread