Meijer

[Veloise]

Back in the 70's a huge Meijer store in Lansing sold Major Appliances for a short time. Meijer even toyed with adding to its stores tire and lube shops similar to those found at Wal-Mart stores. However negotiations with auto mechanic unions went south. So Meijer abandoned the idea.

I can recall seeing auto tires at Fred's.

The store in Ypsi is very close to a mobile home park, so many of the plumbing items were in packages touting that use. (This was around the time they pushed the closing hours back. Yep, Fred used to lock the doors every night! They used to lock up at 10 pm, then went to midnight, might have tried 2 am, then said whatthehell and threw the key away.) I don't recall any auto service departments.

I am trying to remember if Fred ever had a fabric department...K-Mart used to, and it was good fabric.

[tamias6]

I don't recall fabric being sold at Meijer, though Wally-World does. However I've seen knitting and embroidery supplies at the Standale and Alpine stores. The offerings are rudimentary as compared to more specialized places like Field's Fabric or Hobby Lobby. But its looks to be enough to get somebody started. Speaking of arts and crafts, I was as happy as a clam when Meijer started selling Strathmore sketchbooks several years ago because I can get my preferred but normally expensive brand of sketchbooks at Meijer prices.

[Veloise]

... Speaking of arts and crafts, I was as happy as a clam when Meijer started selling Strathmore sketchbooks several years ago because I can get my preferred but normally expensive brand of sketchbooks at Meijer prices. ...

and 24/7!

[destijl]

I can recall seeing auto tires at Fred's.

The store in Ypsi is very close to a mobile home park, so many of the plumbing items were in packages touting that use. (This was around the time they pushed the closing hours back. Yep, Fred used to lock the doors every night! They used to lock up at 10 pm, then went to midnight, might have tried 2 am, then said whatthehell and threw the key away.) I don't recall any auto service departments.

I am trying to remember if Fred ever had a fabric department...K-Mart used to, and it was good fabric.

Meijer used to sell fabric by the yard. I recently found fabric from Meijer (with price tag still attached, indicating # of yards purchased) while sorting through my mother's old fabric stockpile. Judging by the pattern on the fabric, I would guess it was purchsed in the early 1970's.

[Grandrapidsne]

I really wish Meijer would do something about the 28th and Kzoo store everytime i go in there they dont have the products the other Meijer stores have due to small size of the store im told everytime. Why dont they expand across the street where dj's and the church sit? With the alpine store rehabbed and the Plainfield store being redone what other store is there to fix or remodel except the 28th and Kzoo store.

[tamias6]

I really wish Meijer would do something about the 28th and Kzoo store everytime i go in there they dont have the products the other Meijer stores have due to small size of the store im told everytime. Why dont they expand across the street where dj's and the church sit? With the alpine store rehabbed and the Plainfield store being redone what other store is there to fix or remodel except the 28th and Kzoo store.

There are a couple of reasons why Meijer has held off on remodeling the 28th street and K'zoo store. First and most importantly is the odd shape of the building resultant from many additions and renovations that have taken place throughout its lifetime. This odd shape prevents Meijer from cost effectively retrofitting the current store prototype into this old and sorely outdated store. Secondly, Meijer cannot add on to the building because the tight constrains of the property has effectively landlocked any further expansion of the building.

Moving onto the open space to the east of the Christian Reform Church headquarters is not possible because of that space is even smaller than than Meijer's existing location. Additionally, that space is far too hilly and would be very costly to level its grade enough to accommodate a store.

This leaves only two options. One, it could tear down the old store and build in its place a new store using its 156,000 sq, ft. prototype the retailer is opting for from here on for new construction. But that would require the 28th street and K'zoo location to be completely shut down for six months for demolition plus another 12 months for building a new store. Thats 18 months of lost profits which Meijer may find hard to swallow just to gain only a few thousand more square feet. The second option is purchase the Indian Trail golf course, but we all seen the political back lash against such an idea a couple of months ago.. So that's out of the question.

To put it mildly, when talking about the 28th street and K'zoo store, Meijer is stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, being that the company's intent is to renovate or replace all stores greater than five years of age, its only a matter of time before Meijer finally turns its attention to the 28th street and K'zoo location. Therefore what ever Meijer does to that store will be very interesting no matter Meijer does with it.

[walker]

... Moving onto the open space to the east of the Christian Reform Church headquarters is not possible because of that space is even smaller than than Meijer's existing location. Additionally, that space is far too hilly and would be very costly to level its grade enough to accommodate a store.

I don

Edited August 23, 2007 by walker

[ericlw]

According to this article, we will not be seeing anymore 200,000+ sq. foot Meijer stores constructed. From this point forth Meijer intends to build stores sized to a scant 156,000 sq. ft. with the ability to be expanded to 192,000 sq. ft. when the need arises. What this means is that new Meijer stores will be only slightly larger than the 28th street and Kalamazoo store and grow to the size of the Rivertown Crossing store when expanded.

Even though this is the end of the line for 200,000+ sq. ft. Meijer stores, I would not count constructing any new stores of that size completely dead. Square footage has fluctuated wildly through out Meijer's history since the opening of the first Thrifty Acres. Some years Meijer builds very small stores like the former Ionia Store while in other years building behemoths the size of the Cascade and Knapp Corner locations. So who knows. A few years from now Meijer may turn around and build a batch of 300,000 sq. ft. monsters.

I am also guessing another reason why the Ionia store was small, was it even small for back then, was that it was built in Ionia in the 70s.

[jbr12]

I noticed that the carpet store just to the west of the 28th/kzoo store is up for sale. It would be interesting to see Meijer buy that lot and build a double height chunk of store to up the square footage and increase their 28th St frontage...

[tamias6]

I noticed that the carpet store just to the west of the 28th/kzoo store is up for sale. It would be interesting to see Meijer buy that lot and build a double height chunk of store to up the square footage and increase their 28th St frontage...

According to my estimates Meijer could do an addition up to 30,000 sq. ft. one one level or 60,000 sq. ft. spread across two levels while adding the additional parking required by the increase in store size. That would easily bring the 28th st. and K'zoo store up to the space requirements of the current prototype. However that still leaves the odd shape of the building to deal with unless Meijer is willing to deviate from its current prototype and create a custom prototype just for this store, a far easier option (IMO) than doing a store replacement or moving to another location.

[tamias6]

So you UPer's want Big Box stores to have windows? You got it!! Below are shots of one the most transparent Meijer stores -in fact the most transparent Big Box stores-- I've ever seen. This store is located just off the northwestern flank of Mansfield OH. Guessing that it was built 15 to 20 years ago, this store is an example of a generation of stores that succeeded places like like the 52street/Clyde Park Ave. Meijer in Wyoming but predates the the Knapp Corner generation of stores. The interior of this store has been renovated to the current format. However there are no in-store tenant alcoves and no cart rooms. With a customer service desk unusually located off to one side next to the pharmacy, the store front's immense amount of glass floods the interior with natural light without any obstructions.

Now let's see some pictures.

This is the store front dominated by glazing that spans from entrance to entrance. Oh yeah, there's a huge arch window in the cafe area along with more glazing surrounding the doors leading out to the garden center just for good measure. If there was anymore glass than what's there, this Meijer store would be a 200,000 sq. ft. greenhouse.

Gobs of Glass! The storefront between the entrances consist of large plate glass windows. The solarium style glazing on the upper half of the facade is a transparent canopy allowing light to pass through to be gathered by all the windows beneath.

As if all the glazing between the entrances were not enough, this huge arch window was tossed in for good measure. It floods the cafe's seating area with natural light.

No. the glass is not Tinted. Also, without any in-store tenants and customer service desk blocking the way, one can see inside the store.

The retail entrance. The bump out above the entrance contains upstairs store offices.

This is the pharmacy drive up window. In the back ground is an arch shaped structure marking the outside entrance to the garden center. The transparent material is some kind of screening allowing the structure to mimic the transparency of the glass store front.

Edited August 24, 2007 by tamias6

[Rybak 187]

This article talks about another potential Meijer store. This one in Ashland, Kentucky.

[pcdoctor]

A new center service entry door carefully graphed into one of the fake building facades.

Do the lanterns actually work?

[tamias6]

It's been a very long time since I've been to the cascade Meijer at night. But I do believe the street lights are functional.

Do the lanterns actually work?

Edited September 2, 2007 by tamias6

[egrguy]

This article talks about another potential Meijer store. This one in Ashland, Kentucky.

I got routed to an MSN live search page, is the link still active?

Nonetheless, its interesting to see Mejier planning more stores out of state. It seems as if they've recently began pushing that way with several new stores in Indiana, Ohio and now Kentucky.

I wonder which state they enter in next; Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, W. Virginia or Philadelphia?

[Rybak 187]

I can't seem to get it to work either. So, I will tell you what I remember from the article. The article stated that meijer had made the architectural drawings, but had still not gone for any approvals and was 2-3 years away.

[Veloise]

Do the lanterns actually work?

[tamias6]

Great Night Shot. I'm planning on a possible upgrade to a Cannon Rebel by the end of the year. It shouldl give me the manual control to do night shots, somthing my Sony Cybershot can't do very well.

[Veloise]

Great Night Shot. I'm planning on a possible upgrade to a Cannon Rebel by the end of the year. It shouldl give me the manual control to do night shots, somthing my Sony Cybershot can't do very well.

Hah! This was the evening of Dec 25th using a pocket digital camera, available light [see my GRAM "you left the lights on" diatribe]. I might have rested my elbows on the window frame.

(Tam, my one recommendation on a new camera is: portability. If it's too big, you won't bring it along.)

[tamias6]

This is construction work...take 2 ....on the Standale Meijer out lot next to Walgreens.

Construction of a restaurant began not too long after the Standale Meijer opened its doors back in '04/'05. However after excavations for the foundations where complete, construction abruptly ceased. After a few months of sitting idle the excavation work was filled back in and the out lot put back up for sale. If I remember correctly the restaurant owners running into financial issues was to blame.

Today, as shown by this picture, construction is currently taking place on the out lot again. It makes me wonder if the owners responsible for the failed attenpt to build there are trying again or if this is the work of a completely different outfit.

[Delvrin]

Today, as shown by this picture, construction is currently taking place on the out lot again. It makes me wonder if the owners responsible for the failed attenpt to build there are trying again or if this is the work of a completely different outfit.

Same owners, new plan:

Developer proposes Standale strip mall

[Veloise]

Dropped by the Cascade Fred today, or should I call it meijer at Cascade since that's the new signage on the "barn" section. Perhaps this is the new corp identity program, and we can soon expect to see meijer at Alpine, meijer at Knapp, meijer at Indian Trails...

Gonna be nice when they git 'er done. Today they had a large hose (about 6" diameter) running in through one set of doors, snaking across the floor, and heading back to the new deli area that's still curtained off with plastic. As this posed a major tripping hazard in Produce, they have built a couple of plywood bridges, and taped those down on each end.

But wait, there's more. By each bridge was a golf shirted hard hat, in nice clean clothes...helping little old ladies and the carts cross the bridges! It was like a "fly up" ceremony in Girl Scouts.

One of these building trades ambassadors mentioned that they are supposed to be done with M@C in a week, and that the hose was bringing in concrete. (How clever, compared with a messy wheelbarrow and guys traipsing back and forth.)

Otherwise, more planked flooring, more curving shelf units, and lots of clearanced products cleverly tucked away in niches all over the store.

Oh, there are lightbulbs in the faux vintage street lamps. (I was there around 1 pm; they weren't lit... unlike some illumination in this town that seems to run 24/7 despite the building not even being open yet...but I digress.)

Edited September 7, 2007 by Veloise

[tamias6]

Dropped by the Cascade Fred today, or should I call it meijer at Cascade ...

"Meijer at Cascade". Hmmm... Sounds like Meijer is wanting to sound posh and high end. After all the Cascade Meijer will be very high end looking store when is all done. Seriously, one of Meijer's challenges is derived from the fact that it is a supercenter. In order for it to successfully compete against Wal-Mart, Meijer must distinguish itself and its stores from Wal-Mart supercenters in any way it can. The current Rockwell format has helped Meijer immensely in doing this. However the new Cascade Meijer prototype would place the Grand Canyon between Meijer store's and Wally-Worlds if the format is propagated throughout the chain.

[Veloise]

"Meijer at Cascade". Hmmm... Sounds like Meijer is wanting to sound posh and high end. After all the Cascade Meijer will be very high end looking store when is all done. ...

Swapping out all the signage by the gas station and street would be a good start. They've replaced the MEIJER with meijer, in a couple places. The lower-case signs have a white background and blue letting, while the old upper-case ones are white on red. Looks a bit schizzo.

[had fun the day there was no signage on the store exterior; walked in and asked the greeter if it was still Meijer]

[tamias6]

I'm hoping sometime today or tomorrow, I can get down there to snap off some pictures of the exterior changes made to the cascade Meijer. The last time I was down there workers were adding cornices to the entries and an additional fake building facade around the large plate glass window between the retail entry and the pharmacy drive up window. I'm eager to see how those changes turned out.

Edited September 8, 2007 by tamias6