Meijer

[Delvrin]

Meijer to close a store in the Dayton, OH area.

Article

The article makes this sound like doom and gloom. But this is actually one of three Ohio stores being replaced by new stores that will open elsewhere in their respective market areas. Still its a bit strange for Meijer to replace a store built in '91 considering that the company has successfully renovated or done same-site replacements of stores much older than the doomed Dayton store.

Looking at the satellite image of this location, I'm not surprised. It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Meijer probably speculated that there would be more retail development in that area that never materialized.

[Rybak 187]

According to the article they are doing it with two stores in Columbus also. I wonder if they are going to mothball the stores and reopen them if conditions in the areas around the closing stores improve?

[Raildudes dad]

According to the article they are doing it with two stores in Columbus also. I wonder if they are going to mothball the stores and reopen them if conditions in the areas around the closing stores improve?

The article says "department stores". Are these perhaps left overs from the Meijer Square stores when they first entered the Ohio market. Their first stores in Ohio were a small chain they bought and they did not have groceries IIRC. My bro-in-law was living in Cinci at the time (still does) and we visited one of the stores, small and if it had groceries, it was a limited selection.

[tamias6]

The article says "department stores". Are these perhaps left overs from the Meijer Square stores when they first entered the Ohio market. Their first stores in Ohio were a small chain they bought and they did not have groceries IIRC. My bro-in-law was living in Cinci at the time (still does) and we visited one of the stores, small and if it had groceries, it was a limited selection.

I believe the Dayton store is about 200,000 sq. ft. in size. So its way too big to be a Meijer Square. Also Meijer closed down most Meijer Squares and converted the remainder into full blown Meijer stores back in the mid to late 90's. So no Squares exists. Though the Dayton Store could be one of the Square stores converted to a full blown Meijer since it dates back to '91.

[highwayguy]

I wouldn't say this is a terrible location for a store, but it's probably not the best. It looks like it would need an extensive renovation to be brought up to current standards. And, if they are planning to open a new store a few miles to the north in Huber Heights, then it's probably hard to justify keeping both stores open.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&...7&encType=1

Edited January 13, 2008 by highwayguy

[egrguy]

Are these stores originally Meijer built stores or reused facilities?

[jbr12]

How cool would it be if Meijer had this technology?!?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/ap_on_...ffdmsIKRgUDW7oF

Video ads are planned for grocery carts

Microsoft Corp. is bringing digital advertising to the grocery cart. The software maker spent four years working with Plano, Texas-based MediaCart Holdings Inc. on a grocery cart-mounted console that helps shoppers find products in the store, then scan and pay for their items without waiting in the checkout line.

Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising company, last year for $6 billion shored up the company's capacity to serve video ads onto these grocery cart screens.

Starting in the second half of 2008, the companies plan to test MediaCart in Wakefern Food Corp.'s ShopRite supermarkets on the East Coast. Customers with a ShopRite loyalty card will be able to log into a Web site at home and type in their grocery lists; when they get to the store and swipe their card on the MediaCart console, the list will appear. As shoppers scan their items and place them in their cart, the console gives a running price tally and checks items off the shopping list.

.....

I would be all over that shopping list feature! We always forget the list or don't make a list and then get home to realize we forgot the main thing we went to get. Having a running total would also help sticker shock once you get to the check out lane.

Edited January 14, 2008 by jbr12

[Veloise]

Flat Rock store article from my Sunday Freep

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801130629

Great quotes:

The parcel at Telegraph and Vreeland had been zoned residential...

"I can drive to Meijer's 1 1/2 miles away. Why do I need to walk there?" said Kimberly Kar, who moved to Rockridge, a subdivision near the proposed store, three years ago. "I want development, but it should be the right development."

Officials of Grand Rapids-based Meijer presented their plan to the city late last year. The site plan is on view at City Hall.

"What we did was meet with the city planner and we incorporated changes into the site plan based on feedback," Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi said Thursday. He would not elaborate on what those changes were. "It's important for us to work with the community where we build stores."

But Kar, 34, says the plan shows disregard for the city's master plan.

"What the hell is zoning for? What good is it? Why have zoning if people can just come in and change it?" she asked.

[201test]

But Kar, 34, says the plan shows disregard for the city's master plan.

"What the hell is zoning for? What good is it? Why have zoning if people can just come in and change it?" she asked.

[tamias6]

But Kar, 34, says the plan shows disregard for the city's master plan.

"What the hell is zoning for? What good is it? Why have zoning if people can just come in and change it?" she asked.

This is the same larger question that came up in Plainfield w/Spartan -- these types of conversations, which then inevitably devolve into hair-splitting over PUDs.

This is my thought on Meijer and on any big box in general.

On one side of the fence we have people crying fowl on big boxes which is valid. Big Boxes do add to congestion, take up copious amounts of land, and induce more sprawl. They are also very difficult for Mom and Pop's to compete with. But on the other side, this is America. This country's economy is supposedly based on free enterprise. Therefore denying big boxes from doing business or completely and utterly erasing big boxes altogether as allot of anti big box advocates seem to call for is wrong as Big Boxes have just as much rights to do business as Mom and Pops do. Thus we should be answering these questions.

1. How should communities create sustainable urban plans that in include both small and big retailers?

2. How do we establish a regulatory environment that enables Mom and Pops and Big Boxes to coexist peasfully?

3. How do we insure that Big Boxes have a reduced environmental impact that they currently have?

Once these three question have been answered I think we will have at least a good deal of the Big Box Problem licked.

Edited January 14, 2008 by tamias6

[Veloise]

Good deals to be had at Plainfield as they prepare for the 100' relocation to the new store. Many endcaps (the part of the shelving that faces a through aisle), usually loaded with clearance stuff, are empty. Several aisles don't make sense (kitchen implements alternating with housewares, repeat) as though the shelves were moved and shuffled. This makes it aggravating if you are seeking a particular item, as I was, that's nowhere to be found, and I know where to find it in a normal store. (Pocket-sized notebook calendar, if you must know.)

Greeter has a coupon for 20% off existing clearance stuff. Lessee, Xmas is already at 90% off ($1 if it began at $10). That knocks the item down to 80 cents. This is logical; it would cost them more to pack it up and trolley across the parking lot than it would to sell it to someone who will take it off their hands.

Edited January 15, 2008 by Veloise

[tamias6]

Good deals to be had at Plainfield as they prepare for the 100' relocation to the new store. Many endcaps (the part of the shelving that faces a through aisle), usually loaded with clearance stuff, are empty. Several aisles don't make sense (kitchen implements alternating with housewares, repeat) as though the shelves were moved and shuffled. This makes it aggravating if you are seeking a particular item, as I was, that's nowhere to be found, and I know where to find it in a normal store. (Pocket-sized notebook calendar, if you must know.)

Greeter has a coupon for 20% off existing clearance stuff. Lessee, Xmas is already at 90% off ($1 if it began at $10). That knocks the item down to 80 cents. This is logical; it would cost them more to pack it up and trolley across the parking lot than it would to sell it to someone who will take it off their hands.

Today I took a trip to the Plainfield Meijer to take advantage of some deep discounts. I asked several employees when the big move was going to take place. They told me it was going to happen April 13. But by the looks of things I say its going to be allot sooner than that. All the perimeter wall aisles were entirely cleared out. All but the most essential store graphics were taken down. Lastly many of the end caps were at least 50% cleared out. They only area of the store unaffected is the grocery section. Meanwhile in the new store, the Interior looks pretty much complete. The only thing left to do in there is stock merchandise and hang a new sign on the front of the new building.

[Rybak 187]

When I was shopping at Meijer yesterday I overheard two managers, one of them I think was the store director because of the suit, talking about how Meijer was buying land in the U.P.

[tamias6]

If Meijer is indeed purchasing land in the UP, I would not expect to see yooper stores popping up anytime soon. Meijer often purchases land 10 to 15, even 20 years in advance anticipating the need for a new store sometime in the future based on studies of current and projected growth patterns of prospective market areas. In addition Meijer still needs to solidify its presence in the northern Lower Peninsula before making the jump to the UP.

Anyway if or when Meijer does finally cross the Mighty Mac, I would anticipate a 192,000 sq. ft. store in be built in Mackinaw City first soon followed by a smaller 156,000 sq. ft. store across the Bridge in St. Ignace. A few years from that point, Meijer would built a very large 220,000+ sq. ft. store in Sault Saint Marie. to project a deep market reach of a 30 to 40 mile radius since population densities in the UP is sparse compared to those of the Lower Peninsula.

Conditions working against a Meijer expansion into Yooper territory is accessibility or lack there of. Other than traveling all the way around Lake Michigan to get to the UP, the only point of access is the Mackinac Bridge. Sometimes the bridge is closed down due to bad weather. So Meijer may have to revert back to a more traditional stock room layout for any UP store. This would allow each store to keep a cashe of stock to deal with interruptions in the supply chain due to bridge closures. So UP stores would be larger in sq. footage, more costly to build and maintain, and less efficient to heat and cool. Thus they would be less profitable per sq. ft. than a standard Meijer store layout. On that note, Meijer would only build a handful of stores along I-75 and a few towns to the east of that corridor. Once complete, further expansion into other parts of the UP would cease until Meijer expands into Wisconsin, solidifies its presence through out that state, and makes all the way up to the western boarder of the UP. Based on Meijer's current growth, doing that would take about 20 to 30 years.

Edited January 16, 2008 by tamias6

[pcdoctor]

Today I took a trip to the Plainfield Meijer to take advantage of some deep discounts. I asked several employees when the big move was going to take place. They told me it was going to happen April 13. But by the looks of things I say its going to be allot sooner than that. All the perimeter wall aisles were entirely cleared out. All but the most essential store graphics were taken down. Lastly many of the end caps were at least 50% cleared out. They only area of the store unaffected is the grocery section. Meanwhile in the new store, the Interior looks pretty much complete. The only thing left to do in there is stock merchandise and hang a new sign on the front of the new building.

Why do those really huge sales if the new store dosen't plan to open until the 13th of April?? I would indeed think that it's got to be a lot sooner than that until the new store opens. It's only January 16th and it's a little less than 3 months away until the opening of the new store. How long would it take to stock up the new store?

[jbr12]

Would it be more beneficial if Meijer just built a distribution center between St Ignace and S.S. Marie? This would ensure that in the event that crossing the bridge isn't possible, atleast the dis. center would have enough stock pile to keep things flowing...

After living in the Virgin Islands for a year, theres no way in the world I could ever imagine supply demands being such a huge problem for any state side country. Any time a storm came between mainland and the islands, EVERYTHING was interrupted, including gas and food. You would have to shop at 3 or 4 different stores to do all your shopping because of the supply problems. A day or two delay at the bridge would not be THAT huge of a problem

[Delvrin]

The only place in the eastern UP big enough for Meijer is Sault Ste. Marie. Mackinaw City and St. Ignace even combined would be too small of a market.

[Veloise]

Why do those really huge sales if the new store dosen't plan to open until the 13th of April?? I would indeed think that it's got to be a lot sooner than that until the new store opens. It's only January 16th and it's a little less than 3 months away until the opening of the new store. How long would it take to stock up the new store?

I'm guessing it would take 14 days, working 24/7. Bring in shelving, assemble, position, merch it up. Start from the walls.

Probably they are clearancing the slow-moving stuff out of the existing store (perhaps even moving the merch over on existing shelves). They aren't like Field's on 44th street, where two retail buildings sell fabrics from the same parking lot frontage. "Hey, if you want ABC, go to our new store."

Tam, when the Mackinac bridge is closed, it's typically for a few hours, not days and days. (Here we see the advantage of living in Michigan: no Katrina-type storms here!)

[Rybak 187]

Here is an update on the Meijer store in Stevensville. Article

[Veloise]

The Plainfield clearances continue. Every square inch of pegboard attached to the perimeter walls is empty, and many endcaps too. A red shirt told me that the new store will be completely merched up with new product; "nothing from here is going over there." Now that makes sense...just unload some trucks and create a new store, let the customers pick at the bones of the old one.

On the new facade, it now reads meij .

[tamias6]

The Plainfield clearances continue. Every square inch of pegboard attached to the perimeter walls is empty, and many endcaps too. A red shirt told me that the new store will be completely merched up with new product; "nothing from here is going over there." Now that makes sense...just unload some trucks and create a new store, let the customers pick at the bones of the old one.

On the new facade, it now reads meij .

I'd go and take some pictures. But a couple of days ago a thief broke in to our car and stole both my digicam and my camcorder. I'm hoping to get at least my camcorder replaced before the big move.

[Rybak 187]

Sorry to hear that tamias.

[Veloise]

I'd go and take some pictures. But a couple of days ago a thief broke in to our car and stole both my digicam and my camcorder. I'm hoping to get at least my camcorder replaced before the big move.

Tam, stop by the outlet store. They've got some bargains on photo technology.

(And they're practically giving away home reno stuff like hard-wired motion detectors and ceiling fan pulls...25% of the price at HomeLowArd's.)

Edited January 23, 2008 by Veloise

[tamias6]

Meijer revises the site layout of the proposed Petosky store to include wider setbacks as insisted upon by City Planners. A proposed outlot and one parking space were scarified to make room for the wider setbacks.

Article

[egrguy]

More grocery stores, retailers push reusable bags

I know I bought a bunch of these. I just didn't imagine they'd sell 100,000. That is pretty cool and its good to see D&W join the ranks.

I wonder what the cost savings on having people use those bags vs plastic/paper really is?