Any traditional Meijer's supermarkets still operating

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krogerclerk
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Any traditional Meijer's supermarkets still operating

Post by krogerclerk »

Anyone from Michigan know whether or not Meijer's operates any pre-Thrifty Acres supermarkets? Or any former Meijer's supermarkets still operating as a reletively intact supermarket. I'm pretty certain all currently operating Meijer's would be classified as a supercenter or hypermarket, but it's possible a conventional could still be around Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. Perhaps a Meijer's that has been expanded to a Thrifty Acres or later prototype is operating in which it's easy to differentiate the expansions from the original.
TenPoundHammer
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Re: Any traditional Meijer's supermarkets still operating

Post by TenPoundHammer »

krogerclerk wrote:Anyone from Michigan know whether or not Meijer's operates any pre-Thrifty Acres supermarkets? Or any former Meijer's supermarkets still operating as a reletively intact supermarket. I'm pretty certain all currently operating Meijer's would be classified as a supercenter or hypermarket, but it's possible a conventional could still be around Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. Perhaps a Meijer's that has been expanded to a Thrifty Acres or later prototype is operating in which it's easy to differentiate the expansions from the original.
Meijer closed all the supermarkets in the late 1980s or early 1990s if I'm not mistaken. Two in GR were converted to a short-lived drugstore called Spaar, which was sold to Perry Drug after maybe two years, and most likely became Rite Aid in 1995. Others became local grocers.

I know that two of the nearly 20some-odd Meijer stores in Grand Rapids are expanded former grocery locations, including the very first location on 28th St. and Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids and the Plainfield Avenue store. In both cases, there was an existing Meijer supermarket next to a Miracle Mart discount store, and Meijer just gobbled up the former Miracle Mart space. (Plainfield, for a very short time, had a very small mall incorporated into the building as well.) Plainfield has been demolished for a new store, but the original store is still in its original form. The grocery part is very obviously marked by an archway not unlike a Kohl's Foods:

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

This store is going to be demolished and rebuilt sometime this year, as Meijer also owns all the property behind it. As far as I know, no other Meijer superstore began as just a supermarket location.

Conversely, Meijer also had "Meijer Square" stores which were just a discount store, no grocery. One article said that they had eight Meijer Square stores in Cincy from 1981 to 1987, all former Twin Fair supermarkets, and I know that Bay City and Kalamazoo had Meijer Square stores, as did Marion, Indiana. According to that same article, three Meijer supermarkets were still open in 1991.
Rimes
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Re: Any traditional Meijer's supermarkets still operating

Post by Rimes »

Incidentally, Meijer just came out this month with two books about or by the store's founder, available at Meijer stores. One is around $3.99, the other $7.99. I haven't had a chance to really look at them yet, but they did have some old photos inside. A few years back, Meijer stores carried a couple other books about Meijer's history, which were often available at the checkouts with the magazines, but those books were apparently discontinued in recent years -- perhaps replaced now by these two new books.
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