Meijer Inc. is an American company that owns a chain of large stores located mainly in the Midwestern United States. The company's main office is in Walker, Michigan. Meijer was started in 1934 as a supermarket business and is known for creating the modern supercenter idea in 1962. Approximately half of Meijer's 259 stores are in Michigan, while the rest are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Forbes ranks Meijer as the 14th-largest private company in the United States and as the 23rd-largest retailer by revenue in the country as of 2025.

History

Meijer was started in 1934 in Greenville, Michigan, by Hendrik Meijer, a man who moved to the United States from the Netherlands. At that time, Hendrik was a barber, but he decided to open a grocery store during the Great Depression. His first employee was his 14-year-old son, Frederik Meijer, who later became the company’s chairman. Today, the co-chairmen of Meijer, brothers Hank and Doug Meijer, are Hendrik’s grandsons. Hendrik studied trends in the grocery business and was one of the first to offer self-service shopping and shopping carts. He also sold everyday items, like vinegar, at low prices.

The Greenville store was very successful, and more Meijer grocery stores were opened in Cedar Springs (1942) and Ionia (1946). The first store in Grand Rapids opened in 1949 on South Division Avenue. By the 1960s, Meijer had more than 24 stores in West Michigan.

In 1962, Meijer opened a large store called "Thrifty Acres" at the corner of 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue in Grand Rapids. This store was 180,000 square feet (17,000 m²) and combined grocery shopping with a department store in one building. The floors were six inches thick (150 mm), so if the idea failed, the non-grocery part could be used for a car dealership. Stores were built this way until the mid-1970s, when an architect pointed out the extra cost. Meijer expanded to Mid-Michigan in 1966 with a store in Delta Charter Township. In the early 1970s, Meijer opened stores in Ypsilanti (1972) and Canton (1974) in Southeast Michigan. In 1977, Meijer opened a store in Traverse City, Northern Michigan.

Fred Meijer took over the company after his father died in 1964. Under Fred’s leadership, the Thrifty Acres stores became successful and were renamed Meijer in 1986. Meijer’s separate grocery stores continued until the early 1990s, when larger stores became more common.

In 1985, Forbes magazine reported that Walmart had failed in hypermarkets because Sam Walton and his team did not understand the grocery business. Walmart opened its first Hypermart USA in 1987, but only four stores were built, with the last one opening in 1990. Forbes noted that Meijer understood the importance of selling high-quality produce, which helped Meijer succeed where Walmart struggled. Surveys at the time and later showed that Meijer was known for its good produce quality.

During the mid-1990s, Meijer expanded to three new states. The first store in Indiana opened in Mishawaka in April 1994, followed by the first store in Illinois in Champaign in April 1995. In 1996, Meijer opened five supercenters in Cincinnati, including its first store in Kentucky, Florence. Additional stores in Kentucky opened in Lexington and Louisville in 1998.

The first Meijer store in Northwest Indiana opened in Michigan City in August 1997. A store in Merrillville, Indiana, opened in August 1998, marking Meijer’s first location in the Chicago area. In August 1999, Meijer opened its first store in the Illinois suburbs of Chicago, in Bolingbrook. In 2000, three more stores opened in Aurora, St. Charles, and Springfield, Illinois.

As Walmart grew stronger across the country in the 1990s and beyond, Meijer faced challenges from strong competition. In late 2003, Meijer laid off 350 employees from corporate offices, distribution centers, and field offices. In January 2004, the company laid off 1,896 employees and managers, leading to questions about Meijer’s profitability and market share. A marketing professor from Grand Valley State University criticized the decision, saying it was driven by panic. In 2006, Meijer sent 81 information technology jobs to India.

In 2003, Meijer announced that all new stores would have a new format and image, including a new logo to make stores look more friendly and welcoming. The company hired DeVito/Verdi to create advertisements and Rockwell Group to redesign stores. In 2005, despite cutbacks, Meijer expanded its stores in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio.

In May 2007, the first LEED-certified Meijer store opened in Allen Park, Michigan. In July 2007, Meijer announced it would restructure its Team Leader management positions in all 181 stores, saying layoffs would be minimal and necessary to handle more complex products like flat-screen TVs and high-priced wines. No corporate staff or hourly workers were directly affected, but about 500 managers were cut, given severance packages, or reassigned.

On November 25, 2011, Frederik Meijer died at the age of 91. In May 2013, Meijer opened its 200th supercenter in Swartz Creek, Michigan, and its first store in Detroit at Gateway Marketplace. A second Detroit store opened in 2015 near Redford High School.

In 2014, Meijer became the first retailer to accept Apple Pay and CurrentC for purchases in its stores and gas stations. That same year, Meijer opened a supercenter in Bowling Green, Kentucky, its southernmost location. In 2015, Meijer opened its first stores in Wisconsin and purchased a distribution center in Pleasant Prairie from SuperValu. An advertisement was placed at Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, to promote its expansion.

In 2015, Meijer bought the Memorial Mall in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and replaced it with a new store that opened in 2019. In 2017, Meijer expanded to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin, opening stores in Howard, Wisconsin; Escanaba, Michigan; and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Additional stores opened in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, and Marquette, Michigan, in 201

Operations

As of September 2025, Meijer operates 259 hypermarkets, which are large stores that sell both groceries and other goods. About half of these stores are in Michigan, and the rest are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Most Meijer stores are open every day from 6 a.m. to midnight. Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most Meijer stores were open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, and closed only on Christmas.

Most Meijer locations also have a nearby Meijer Express fuel station and convenience store. These fuel stations offer gasoline, diesel, and alternative fuels like E85. Some Meijer stores also have electric vehicle charging stations.

In addition to its original stores, Meijer opened several concept stores in the 1970s and 1980s. These included specialty clothing stores named Copper Rivet, Sagebrush, and Casual Court. Each store sold a different type of brand-name clothing: Copper Rivet sold Levi's jeans, Sagebrush sold casual wear, and Casual Court sold women's clothing. These stores were often located near existing Meijer stores or in shopping centers. Casual Court was renamed Tansy in 1982. These clothing chains were closed in the 1980s as other stores began selling similar clothing. Sagebrush, which had 71 stores at its peak, was sold in 1988, while Copper Rivet and Tansy stores were closed as their leases ended.

In 1980, Meijer started a discount pharmacy chain called Spaar, which opened four stores in former Meijer supermarket locations. By the mid-1980s, these stores were sold to Perry Drug Stores in Pontiac, Michigan.

In 1981, Meijer began opening Meijer Square stores, which were traditional discount department stores without a full grocery section. Meijer bought 14 stores from Twin Fair, a company based in Buffalo, New York, and converted them to Meijer Square locations. Two stores were also opened in Michigan. Most of the Ohio stores were later sold to Zayre and Hills. Meijer returned to Cincinnati and Kentucky in 1996 after Hills and Ames closed all their Ohio stores.

In 1992, Meijer opened its first warehouse club store, SourceClub. This idea did not work well against competitors like Sam's Club and Costco, and all seven SourceClub stores closed in 1994. The store in Fraser, Michigan, was converted into a regular Meijer store, while the others were closed or sold.

In 2009, Meijer introduced a new store format called Meijer Marketplace, with stores ranging from 90,000 to 100,000 square feet and focused mainly on groceries. Four stores were tested in the Chicago suburbs from 2010 to 2012, with plans to expand. By 2017, three of these stores had closed, though the one in Orland Park, Illinois, remained open as of 2025.

Meijer operates six small "neighborhood" grocery stores, each between 35,000 and 50,000 square feet. The first, Bridge Street Market in Grand Rapids, opened in 2018. Others opened in Royal Oak, Lansing, Detroit, Cleveland, and Independence Township, Michigan, between 2020 and 2025.

In 2023, Meijer launched Meijer Grocery, a standard grocery store format with stores ranging from 75,000 to 90,000 square feet. The first two stores opened in Lake Orion and Macomb Township, Michigan, in January 2023. A third opened in Noblesville, Indiana, in July 2024, and two more stores in Detroit are being built as of 2025.

Meijer was an early investor in Fresh Thyme Market, a regional grocery chain that sells organic foods. Some sources say Fresh Thyme is fully owned by Meijer, while others say Meijer only owns a part of the company. As of January 2024, Fresh Thyme had 70 stores in 10 Midwestern states.

Many workers at Meijer stores in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio are part of a union called the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Marketing and sponsorship

In 2006, Meijer gave money to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to create a paid job called the Frederik Meijer Chair of Dutch Language and Culture. Before this, the position was not paid. The goal of this job is to increase interest in the Netherlands and the Dutch cultural history of Michigan.

Meijer is the main supporter of the Meijer LPGA Classic, a yearly women's professional golf event held near Grand Rapids.

Meijer is the official grocery sponsor of the Detroit Lions, Detroit Red Wings, and Detroit Tigers. Since the 2021–22 NHL season, Meijer’s logo has appeared on the Red Wings’ helmets. Since the 2023 MLB season, Meijer has been advertised on the Tigers’ jerseys. Meijer also has the right to name the Lions’ training center.

Meijer has supported the Milwaukee Brewers since 2014. Meijer also supports the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Guardians.

Meijer is also a sponsor of the athletic teams at Michigan State University.

Store design

Meijer was the first store in the United States to open a "supermarket" or "superstore," which combined many different products under one roof. This happened when Meijer opened its first Thrifty Acres store in 1962.

Meijer stores are usually built with the supermarket section on one side and the general merchandise section on the other side. Most Meijer stores are built from the ground up, and very few were converted from other stores. Some exceptions include:

• The Fraser, Michigan location, which was converted from a failed SourceClub store
• The Lincoln Park, Michigan and Portage, Indiana locations, which were converted from Super Kmart stores
• The Traverse City, Michigan location, which was a former Grant City store
• The former Sterling Heights, Michigan location (closed in 2002), which was also a former Grant City
• The former Newark, Ohio location (closed in 2013), which was purchased from Twin Fair

Some stores built in the 1960s and 1970s, such as a now-demolished store on Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township, Michigan (which marked Meijer’s entry into the Flint market in 1972), had balconies. These balconies included shops like barber shops and nail salons. In the late 1990s, McDonald’s restaurants operated inside some Meijer stores, especially those with balconies. Stores without balconies, such as those in Taylor, Michigan; Muncie, Indiana; Wyoming, Michigan; and the store on Alexis Road in Toledo, Ohio, also had McDonald’s locations. The first stores in the Detroit area had a short-lived fast food concept called Thrifty’s Kitchen, which also had a standalone location near the Meijer in Walker. Most stores now have a sit-down café, and some also have a Starbucks coffee shop or a Subway restaurant. Stores built between 1989 and 1993 had curved walls of windows between the entrances, such as many early stores in Ohio and the Midland, Michigan store. Many of these stores have since been renovated.

In the early 1990s, Meijer created new store designs. One example was the "whimsical" design used when Meijer expanded into Indiana in 1994. These stores had unique shapes and roof designs, including a yellow pineapple made of yellow ceramic brick and glass blocks. This design was meant to introduce Meijer to Indiana as a "store of discovery."

Another feature of these stores was a large translucent wall above the main area near the registers. This allowed natural light to enter without actual windows. These stores also used grey concrete panels and silver framing on windows and doors. Similar designs were used when Meijer expanded into Illinois in 1995 and returned to Kentucky in 1996.

On August 5, 1997, the store in Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, opened with a new design called the Presidential prototype. This design moved the Meijer logo to the center of the building. Later stores with this design added the Meijer Fresh logo, which had the word "Fresh" in cursive next to the Meijer name. Most of these signs were later replaced with the current logo, which has "meijer" in lowercase red letters with blue dots over the 'i' and 'j.' In 2000, the Presidential prototype was replaced with the Village Square prototype, which had fake storefronts on the front of the building and a barn-like section with the Meijer logo. This prototype was soon replaced by the Signature Series prototype, which removed the fake storefronts. In the mid-2000s, the current prototype was introduced, which focuses on the entrances, featuring large glass walls with a tilted roof that creates an "eyebrow" shape.

Controversies and criticism

In 2003, Meijer was taken to court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The group said the company treated someone unfairly because of their religion and broke the law by harming an employee's rights. Debra Kerkstra, who worked at a Meijer store in West Michigan and was part of the Christian Reformed Church, was fired in 2001. She said she could not work on Sundays because of her religious beliefs, but her manager did not allow her to avoid that day. Meijer agreed to pay Kerkstra $22,000 and created new rules to stop similar problems, such as training managers to treat employees fairly regardless of religion.

In February 2007, Meijer tried to remove elected leaders in Acme Township, Michigan. The leaders had refused to let Meijer build a new store near M-72, east of Traverse City. Meijer hired Seyferth, Spaulding and Tennyson, a public relations firm in Grand Rapids, to help plan the recall. Records show the firm met with a small group called "Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government," which supported the Meijer store but had not yet decided to support the recall. With help from the firm, the group started a recall effort. The firm helped the group write materials, change their website, and prepare messages for newspapers. The recall group did not tell people the firm or Meijer were involved. Meijer was fined $190,000 for these actions. The store opened in November 2015, and many people attended the event.

In 2008, Meijer received a score of 0% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. This score shows how well companies treat gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers, customers, and investors. Meijer was one of only three companies out of more than 500 to get a 0%.

In 2009, Meijer improved its score after changing its rules to include protection for people based on their sexual orientation. Other companies had higher scores, such as Macy’s (100%), Sears (100%), Target (100%), Whole Foods (90%), Kroger (75%), and Walmart (40%). By 2016, Meijer’s score was 85%, similar to its competitors.

In 2020, Meijer scored 100% on the Corporate Equality Index, joining 680 other major U.S. companies with perfect scores. As of 2025, Meijer still has a 100% score on the index.

In March 2024, a Meijer manager in Seven Hills, Ohio, waited to fire an employee with special needs until the cost of stolen products reached $100. The manager wanted to have the employee arrested instead of punishing them. In August 2025, video from a body camera showed the arrest. Meijer said it had made changes to its rules after the incident, but did not explain what those changes were.