{{infobox company| company name

Meijer | company_logo 200px|Meijer | company_type Private| slogan ''Higher Standards, Lower Prices''| foundation Greenville, Michigan (1934)| location Walker, Michigan, U.S.| locations 197| key_people Hendrik Meijer, Founder Fred Meijer, Former Chairman Emeritus Hank Meijer, CEO, Co-Chair Doug Meijer, Co-Chair Mark Murray, President| industry Retail (Grocery & Discount)| num_employees 72,200| products Groceries, clothing, footwear, gasoline, sporting clothing, bedding, furniture, jewelry, health and beauty products, toys, sporting equipments, electronics, housewares and pet supplies| revenue est. $14.63 billion USD (2011)| homepage www.meijer.com| }}

Meijer, Inc. () 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 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. The chain was ranked No. 13 on Forbes's 2011 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 [link]

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 store 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 went successfully, and additional Meijer groceries were opened in Ionia and Cedar Springs. By the 1960's, the company had over two dozen stores located throughout West Michigan.

In 1949, the first 2 Meijer stores opened in Grand Rapids, MI. One on South Division and one on Eastern Ave. "In a contest, a customer suggests the name “Thrifty” for Meijer’s little Dutch boy, who becomes the corporate symbol for the next 30 years."

In 1962, the modern format of Meijer was started, with a 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.

The ''Thrifty Acres'' stores, now under the leadership of Fred Meijer, became a tremendous success and were renamed to simply ''Meijer'' in 1986. Meijer's stand-alone grocery operations continued until the early 1990s, as the larger stores became dominant. In 1985 it was reported in ''Forbes'' magazine that Wal-Mart at the time had failed in what were then known as hypermarkets because Sam Walton and company did not understand the grocery business.

Walton launched the first Hypermart USA store in 1987, opening only four stores, the last in 1990. It was said by ''Forbes Magazine'' that Meijer understood the importance of the food business, that it was not something just tacked on to a discount store. The quality of the produce is very important; poor quality produce sold by Wal-Mart was the main reason for their lack of success. By contrast, surveys said then and now that Meijer ranks high on produce quality.

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".

On November 25, 2011 Frederik Meijer died. He was 91 years old.

Operations [link]

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 [link]

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.

In 1980, Meijer began a discount pharmacy chain called Spaar (from the Dutch word for "save"), which opened four stores in 1980 in former Meijer supermarket locations. The Spaar stores were sold to Pontiac, Michigan-based Perry Drug Stores by the mid-1980s.

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. The Ohio locations were sold to Zayre and Hills With exception of the Newark, Ohio store which Meijer bought from Twin Fair. This store already included a full grocery section and would be renamed Meijer Thrifty Acres. This was the only store in Ohio bought from Twin Fair that had a grocery section. This store on North 21st Street in Newark, Ohio still exists and is much smaller than today's stores. The Marion, Ohio store remained a Meijer Square store until 1992 when a new much bigger Meijer store was built down the road. The Findlay, Ohio Meijer Square store burned to the ground and was replaced by a much bigger Meijer store. But some Meijer Square stores in Michigan remained open into the 1990s. The Meijer name would not be found in Cincinnati, Ohio again until 1996, after both Hills and Ames had closed all of their Ohio stores.

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.

Upon its expansion into Chicago, the chain announced a new concept called ChicagoLand, comprising smaller stores that focus more on grocery items and pharmacy.

Marketing and sponsorship[link]

Meijer Community Rewards[link]

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[link]

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 PBS 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.

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.

Meijer store design[link]

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.

Some stores built in the 1970s and 1980s included a balcony, containing service tenants such as a barber shop and nail salon. Until the late 1990s, McDonald's restaurants also operated inside Meijer stores, primarily in those with balconies; in addition, the first stores in the Detroit area featured a short-lived fast food concept called Thrifty's Kitchen. Most stores feature a sit-down café, while some also feature a Starbucks coffee shop.

Early in the 1990s Meijer developed new integrated prototypes for their rollouts. One example was the "whimsical" design prototype that was introduced with the 1994 expansion into Indiana. Different shapes and roofing designs created the facade of the building. Most notable was the yellow pineapple constructed out of yellow ceramic brick and glass blocks. The different shapes on the facade were to introduce Meijer to Indiana as a "store of discovery."

Also notable was the use of a large translucent wall above the grand concourse facing the registers. This allowed natural light to filter into the area above the registers without actual windows. Another feature of these stores was the introduction of grey concrete panels and silver framing on windows and doors.

The Presidential prototype evolved out of the mid-1990s prototype. The logo was moved to the center of the building. Later Meijer stores of this design introduced the Meijer Fresh logo with the standard Meijer logo and a large cursive "Fresh" on the right of the Meijer name. These logos are currently being phased out with the lower case "meijer" (in red) with blue dots over the 'i' and 'j'.

"Hypermarket"[link]

Meijer is credited with being the first hypermarket store in the United States, combining a multitude of merchandise under one roof, though rarely acknowledged as such. The concept of a hypermarket has been credited to stores in Europe, most often Carrefour. This may be attributed to Meijer's being a regional chain, rather than expanding internationally, and using the term "supercenter" rather than "hypermarket" when they opened the first Thrifty Acres in 1962. Most United States hypermarkets were started at later dates. Meijer describes itself as a grocery chain that added general merchandise to their grocery stores in 1962. The Meijers are very private people and would not talk to Forbes for a 1995 comparison to Hypermart USA and Kmart's American Fare failed hypermarket concepts.

The Portland, Oregon-based Fred Meyer chain, now a subsidiary of Kroger, is unrelated to Meijer. The two similarly-named retailers operate similar stores; Fred Meyer's first multiple department store opened in Portland's Hollywood District in 1931.

Controversies and criticism[link]

Acme Township[link]

In February 2007, Meijer was involved in an effort to recall the elected officials of Acme Township in Grand Traverse County, because of the officials' reluctance to allow a new store along M-72 within the rural township. Meijer retained Seyferth, Spaulding & Tennyson, a Grand Rapids public relations firm, which helped orchestrate the recall effort. As of January 2008, a criminal investigation was underway by the Michigan State Police 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 [link]

In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008 Meijer scored an 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.

Firing of a Christian employee[link]

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 [link]

References[link]

External links [link]

Company website

Official mobile site

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:Discount stores of the United States

de:Meijer (Unternehmen) ko:마이어 (기업)

Lavinia Meijer (1983, South Korea) is a Dutch harpist.

Education[link]

When she was 11 years old, Lavinia was accepted by Erika Waardenburg to study at the Young Talent Department of the Utrecht Conservatory. She graduated cum laude from the Utrecht Conservatory in 2003 and obtained a Masters Degree in Music (also cum laude) in 2005 from the Amsterdam Conservatory.

For her masters degree Lavinia studied under, among others, Jana Bouskova, Isabelle Moretti, Daphne Boden, Natalia Shameyva, Emilia Moskvitina, Maria Graf, Skaila Kanga and Susann McDonald. She also took a jazz course from the jazz harpist Park Stickney and lessons on interpretation with Theo Olof (violin), Walter van Hauwe (recorder) en Willem Brons (piano).

Activities[link]

Lavinia has performed in Europe, Asia and America. She has played as a soloist with orchestras, such as the Residentie Orkest, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She was invited to play during festivals such as the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, the Schleswig-Holstein Muziek Festival and a number of World Harp Congresses. Lavinia is also a regular substitute for various orchestras, including the Residentie Orkest and the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest.

Special Projects[link]

In 2004 Lavinia made a tour through the Netherlands in the series "Het Debut" together with the Jenufa Quartet. In the period 2006-2008, Lavinia is performing in the series "Rising Stars" with concerts in Cologne (Philharmonie), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Paris (Cité-de-la-Musique), Vienna (Wiener Musikverein), Birmingham (Symphony Hall), Athens (Concert Hall), Brussels (Paleis voor schone kunsten), Luxembourg (Philharmonie), Stockholm (Konserthus) and New York (Carnegie Hall).

In 2006 Lavinia, together with the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, performed new transcriptions of Caplet, Debussy and Ravel, and also two world premieres from the Argentinian composer Carlos Michans and the Dutch composer Wijnand van Klaveren, both of which composed music especially for her and the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet. In 2007 Lavinia and Tjeerd Top (violin), performed a world premiere from the American composer Garrett Byrnes at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Furthermore in 2007, Lavinia performed another world premiere piece composed by Carlos Mischans at the Vredenburg in Utrecht, together with the Radio Chamber Philharmony conducted by Thierry Fischer .

CD recordings[link]

In 2004, Lavinia produced a CD album entitled "1685" with works from Handel, Bach and Scarlatti, which features several self-transcribed preludes and fugues from Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier.

In 2008, Lavinia released a Super Audio CD album on Channel Classics Records, entitled "Divertissements" with works from French composers, including Carlos Salzedo, André Caplet and Jacques Ibert.

In 2009, Lavinia released a Super Audio CD album, produced by Channel Classics Records, entitled "Visions" with works from 20th century composers, including Benjamin Britten, Paul Patterson, Garrett Byrnes, Isang Yun and Toru Takemitsu.

In 2011, Lavinia released a Super Audio CD album, produced by Channel Classics Records, entitled, "Fantasies and Impromptus" with works from, among others, Louis Spohr, Gabriel Fauré, Gabriel Pierné, Camille Saint-Saëns.

Prizes and Recognition[link]

Lavinia Meijer has won a large number of prizes. She won the first prize at the Prinses Christina Competition (1997), the Stichting Jong Muziek Talent Nederland (1996,1998), the Nederlands Harp Competition (1997, 2004) and the Vriendenkrans contest from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (2005).

She also won prizes at several large international harp competitions: the second prize at the International Harp Competition in Lausanne (1998), the third prize at the International Harp Competition in Lille (1999), the first prize at the International Harp Competition in Brussels (2000), the third prize at the International Harp Competition in Israel (2001), the second prize at the Reinl-Wettbewerb in Vienna (2002) and the third prize at the Sixth International USA Harp Competition in America (2004).

Furthermore, she has won prizes for the best interpretation of ''Visions in Twilight'' from Garrett Byrnes and the harp concert in B-flat major from Georg Friedrich Händel. In 2005, Lavinia was awarded the Cultuurprijs from Ede for her promotion of the harp as a solo instrument. This prize was presented to her by the renowned Herman Krebbers .

In 2007, Lavinia was awarded the Fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, as well as the MeesPierson Award at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) together with violinist Tjeerd Top.

In 2009, Lavinia was awarded the Dutch Music Prize, the highest distinction for a classical musician in the Netherlands.

External links[link]

official website

Channel Classics CD Label

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch harpists Category:People from Ede, Netherlands

fy:Lavinia Meijer nl:Lavinia Meijer

Johnny Meijer (born 'Jan Cornelis Meijer' 1 October 1912 in Amsterdam; died 8 January 1992 in Amsterdam) was an accordionist who played classical, folk, and swing.

For a time he was known as a jazz accordionist and his 75th birthday was celebrated at the North Sea Jazz Festival. He was also the subject of a film. He is the grandfather of pop singer Eva Simons who in 1995 sang the song Rainbow in the Sky by DJ Paul Elstak in [1].

From the 1950s onwards Johnny Meijer frequently toured abroad and earned the title King of the Accordion. Although the accordion is often associated with folk music, Meyer was versatile enough to play jazz and classical music. Twice he was accordion world champion in 1953 and 1954.

Besides the popular songs he also played fast swing numbers, Romanian music and classical pieces and was widely recognized as a virtuoso jazz accordionist. In 1974 he recorded the Dutch Swing College Band Johnny Goes Dixie LP, which went gold.

He will be remembered primarily as a live performer of folk music in Amsterdam. He was typically seen during performances with a cigar in his mouth, and his accordion (which can be seen at the Gert Nijkamp Muziekhuis in Apeldoorn) shows several burn marks as a result of this. In the last years of his life, Johnny Meyer was rarely invited to play large performances, mainly in connection with his short temper and his drinking, and thus the King of the Accordion saw out his final days mostly in silence, occasionally playing at weddings and parties.

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography (In Dutch)

Category:Jazz accordionists Category:Dutch jazz musicians Category:People from Amsterdam Category:Dutch accordionists Category:1912 births Category:1992 deaths

nl:Johnny Meijer