Meijer

Meijer () is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 194 locations are located in Michigan, with additional locations in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. The chain was ranked No. 18 on Forbes's 2008 list of "America's Largest Private Companies" and 19 in Fortune's 2008 "The 35 largest U.S. private companies". Supermarket News ranked Meijer No. 12 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $13.2 billion. Based on 2005 revenue, Meijer is the twenty-fifth largest retailer in the United States.

History

.]] Meijer was founded as Meijer's in Greenville, Michigan by Hendrik Meijer, a Dutch immigrant. Meijer was a local barber who decided to enter the grocery business during the Great Depression. His first employees included his son, Frederik Meijer, then a 14-year-old grocery bagger, who would later become the chairman of the company. The current co-chairmen, brothers Hank and Doug Meijer, are Hendrik's grandsons. After studying trends in the grocery industry, Meijer was among the first to offer self-service shopping and shopping carts. He also worked hard to find and offer staple items, such as vinegar, at bargain prices.

The Greenville store did well, and additional Meijer groceries were opened in Ionia and Cedar Springs. By 1960, the company had over two dozen stores located throughout West Michigan.

In 1962, the modern format of Meijer was started, with the opening of the first Meijer Thrifty Acres store at the corner of 28th Street and Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids. At a size of , it combined grocery shopping and department store shopping in a single large store. The store was built with six-inch (152 mm) thick floors, so that should the concept fail, the non-grocery half could be converted into an indoor car dealership. New stores were built in the same manner until the mid 1970s, when an architect mentioned the extra cost to management.

With the increasing dominance of Wal-Mart throughout the country during the 1990s and up to the present day, Meijer is facing the effects of an intensely competitive retail industry. In late 2003, the company laid off 350 people from the corporate offices, distribution centers and field offices; a few months later, in January 2004, Meijer laid off 1,896 employees and managerial staff, leading to speculation that the company was losing profitability and market share. A marketing professor, Dr. Ben Rudolph of Grand Valley State University near Meijer's corporate headquarters, lambasted this move, saying they "apparently blinked" and that Meijer's "decision was driven by panic". Continuing cutbacks in 2006, the company outsourced eighty-one information technology positions to India.

In 2003, the company announced that all new Meijer stores would feature an entirely new format and company image, complete with a new logo intended to make the Meijer stores seem "friendly" and inviting. The midwestern company hired New York City's Rockwell Group to redesign all the existing stores and establish a design for new stores. The "new theatrics" for the then-seventy-one year-old company originally started as a "new product introduction program" until David Rockwell talked Hank and Fred Meijer into further changes. Rockwell told the Meijers the new introduction program would "work only if it was part of a new overall creative foundation based on a fresher, younger approach, encompassing architecture, interior design, and graphic design". Despite recent cutbacks, Meijer has been embarking on a new expansion plan that will increase its number of stores in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. In April 2003, Meijer selected DeVito/Verdi, an advertising agency in New York, to handle its $25 million account.

In July 2007, Meijer announced to the local Michigan press it would be "restructuring" its Team Leader management positions in all 181 stores, stating layoffs would be "minimal" and necessary "to handle more sophisticated products such as flat-screen TVs and high-priced wines". Their spokesperson also said the changes were "not about a labor reduction", but fitting people into the right role. No corporate staff or hourly workers were directly affected. In August 2007, the store announced that they were cutting approximately 500 managers (12% of existing management staff). The 500 were given severance packages, while other managers were transferred to other stores or "reassigned to different positions". A Meijer spokesperson stated the cuts were made as Meijer "tries to compete with the world's largest corporation, Wal-Mart".

Operations

Meijer stores are classified as supercenters or hypermarkets (a superstore that combines groceries and department store goods in the same store). Many stores also feature a Meijer-branded gas station and convenience store in front. Several Meijer locations feature alternative fuels such as E85, biodiesel, and compressed natural gas.

Most Meijer stores are open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, closing only at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and reopening at 6 a.m. on December 26. Closing on Christmas Day has been in effect since December 24, 1988.

Other Meijer concepts

In addition to the original Meijer supermarkets and hypermarkets, Meijer opened several concept stores in the 1970s and 1980s. The first were specialty clothing store chains called Copper Rivet, Sagebrush and Tansy. Each store focused on a different form of brand-name clothing: Copper Rivet sold Levi's jeans, Sagebrush sold casual wear, and Tansy sold women's clothing. All three chains usually operated in front of existing Meijer stores, or in nearby shopping centers. These clothing chains were dissolved in the 1980s as brand-name clothing became more readily available at competing retailers. Sagebrush, which at its peak comprised seventy-one stores, was sold off in 1988, while Copper Rivet and Tansy stores were closed as their leases expired.

One year after launching the Spaar brand, Meijer began opening Meijer Square stores, which were traditional discount department stores lacking a full grocery section. This concept also brought Meijer to Ohio for the first time, where several Twin Fair, Inc. stores were converted to the Meijer Square concept.

Meijer opened its first warehouse club store, SourceClub, in 1992. The concept proved unsuccessful in competition against Sam's Club and Costco, and all SourceClub stores were closed in 1994. The location in Fraser, Michigan was converted to a regular Meijer store, while the rest were sold off.

Marketing and sponsorship

Meijer Community Rewards

The Meijer Community Rewards program allows customers who make purchases with cash, debit card or a Meijer Credit Card to designate groups such as schools, religious organizations or other non-profits to receive a portion of the total price paid as a charitable donation.

Participants who sign up can choose up to three non-profit organizations participating in the program to receive the donations from their shopping trips. When a Meijer Rewards card is scanned at checkout or if a participating Meijer Credit Card is used to pay for the purchase, 0.5% of the transaction for cash or debit or 1% if paid with a Meijer Credit Card is donated to the designated organizations.

Notable donations and actions

As a philanthropist, Fred Meijer's most significant contribution has been the land and sculpture collection for the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, a botanic garden and sculpture park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Meijer donated land for a Grand Valley State University campus in Holland, Michigan approximately 30 minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In the mid-1980s, Meijer donated an undisclosed amount of money to GVSU towards the construction of new studios for the GVSU's Public Television Station, WGVU, which continues to broadcast from "The Meijer Public Broadcast Center."

A section of the Berlin Wall stands in the Meijer Lobby of the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, donated by Frederik Meijer on its 10th anniversary and dedicated by President Ford on September 6, 1991.

Meijer made considerable donations which led to the creation of Spectrum Health's Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center.

After the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Meijer dispatched company trucks to deliver food, bottled water, and necessities to relief centers in Mississippi before government aid began. Cash donations were also sent by the company, its employees, and its customers.

In July and August 2004, Fred Meijer personally offered a donation of $25 million and property which included a former golf course near Grand Rapids' East Beltline to fund a relocation and expansion of the historic John Ball Zoo. However, voters voted against the proposal and Meijer retracted the offer.

The Meijer Foundation donated $1 million to Michigan's White Pine Trail State Park for improvements. The donation carried a stipulation that the state must name the trail the "Fred Meijer White Pine Trail". The state parks department eventually accepted the donation, but the decision created a controversy over naming rights for private donations to public parks.

Grand Rapids' downtown Civic Theatre, now renamed the Meijer Majestic Theatre, had a $10 million renovation, thanks in large part to donations by Fred Meijer, as well as Grand Action, a Grand Rapids-based community improvement organization. The name Meijer Majestic Theatre reflects both the original name of the 103 year old theatre as well as Fred Meijer's philanthropy.

In 2006, Meijer donated money to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in order to create the paid position called the Frederik Meijer Chair of Dutch Language and Culture. Previously there was a chair but it was unpaid. It is currently held by Dr. Henk Aay, and its purpose is to promote interest in the Netherlands and Michigan's Dutch cultural heritage.

Meijer has been involved in sponsorship in the IndyCar Series for several years. They were associate sponsor on the #26 Andretti-Green Racing entry driven by Marco Andretti. They have a presence in NASCAR as well, sponsoring the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

On the Oprah Show that aired on December 28, 2010, Meijer made a $50,000 donation to an Alabama woman known for her caring nature and contribution to her community. The money was donated to help support local school districts and lower-income communities in Alabama.

Meijer store design

location.]].]] Meijer stores are typically designed with the supermarket section to one side and the general merchandise section to the other side. The chain's stores are almost always constructed from the ground up, with very few Meijer stores having been converted from other retailers. Exceptions include the Lincoln Park, Michigan store, which is a former Super K-Mart, the Traverse City, Michigan and Sterling Heights, Michigan stores, both of which were former Grant City stores, as well as the Fraser, Michigan location, which Meijer converted from its failed SourceClub concept store. The concept of a hypermarket has been credited to stores in Europe, most often Carrefour. Most United States hypermarkets were started at later dates. into the legality of the scheme.

Records indicate that the PR firm retained by Meijer had arranged a meeting with a small non-profit organization which favored the Meijer store, but had not yet formally taken a position on the recall. With the persuasion of the PR firm, the organization, known as the "Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government," formed a recall committee and began to promote the recall election. Seyferth researched the plausibility of a recall, wrote justification for the recall and oversaw the agenda for the meeting with Acme Taxpayers. The PR firm revised the organization’s website, logo, devised talking points, campaign literature and wrote ghost letters to Traverse City newspapers. The recall committee did not disclose any of the PR firm’s assistance, or its affiliation with Meijer. , the case is still ongoing.

Treatment of LGBT community

In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008 Meijer scored a 8% on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which the HRC calls "a measure of how U.S. companies and businesses are treating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors." Specifically, the HRC claims that Meijer does not offer "even minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees" and lists it as a consistently gay-unfriendly company. Meijer was one of only three companies out of over 500 graded to receive this extremely low score. Meijer's score did improve on the 2009 index, after the company amended its non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation, but its 15% score still stands in contrast to the much higher 2009 ratings of its other retail and grocery rivals, such as Macy's Inc. (100%), Sears/Kmart (100%), Whole Foods Market (90%), Target Corporation (100%), Kroger (75%) and Wal-Mart (40%). Meijer did see its score rise once again, to 20%, in 2010.

Treatment of Christian Community

The federal government sued Meijer on behalf of a former employee for violating her civil rights by firing her because she would not work on Sunday. Debra Kerkstra was fired in 2001 for refusing to work on Sunday because of religious convictions. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused Meijer of religious discrimination, and Meijer settled the case after paying $22,000 to Kerkstra and agreeing to implement procedures to prevent repeat occurrences.

Footnotes

References

External links

Company website

Official mobile site

Category:Family businesses Category:Companies established in 1934 Category:Hypermarkets of the United States Category:Privately held companies based in Michigan Category:Companies based in Kent County, Michigan Category:Companies based in Michigan Category:Discount stores of the United States