pcdoctor

Wow looking nice. Thank you for all those pictures. If I read that right, there are going to be 26 grocery Aisles? How can they fit that many Aisles in? Also, did frozen foods move or are they still in the same spot? What used to be where the dairy cases were that held milk? And finally, did they build restrooms in the front of the store and if so, where are they located?

Were you able to get pictures of other interior parts and even some up to date exterior areas?

What app was this screenshot from?

So there's the main cart storage area and then the secondary cart storage area for carts that have baby seats and those other type of seats? I'm now wondering if the grocery entrance is going to be built in a similar matter where the cart storage areas are in the vestibule itself like they are in the new retail entry?

Looking at the picture of the retail entrance, it looks like that entrance could be open within the next few days or so if it's not already open. I however don't like the fact that it's not a super high ceiling when I compare it to how high the roof is. Looking at the space to the south of the new retail entrance, Is that going to be the customer service desk when done? Nice to see it coming along even though there's still a ton of work that needs to be done.

I have a feeling that all optical stores will be closing in the future. The one at Alpine closed a few years ago.

Wow quite a bit of progress happening there. Definitely looks chaotic if you are someone that shops for groceries there on a regular basis. Thanks for the update.

Has anyone been over to Clyde Park and 54th lately? Any updates as to what's happening with the store?

Good news everyone for the time being. The Pearl Street Bridge has reopened! Westbound side however is down to one lane. Either construction crews finished up whatever they had to do with the hotel or they reopened it because of the I-196 westbound freeway closure.

Class was canceled today. As a result, this gave me an opportunity to head down to the Clyde Park and 54th street Meijer to see what was happening. One thing I will tell you is no matter what area of the store you are in, it's complete chaos. Things such as sectioned off areas, Aisles out of line, etc... The new Pets department looked nice though. Electronics was looking good as well too. Graphics on the walls have yet to go up once the walls are primed and painted. So in the center section of the store, it looked like they had new flooring down, but the drop ceiling has not been removed from much of the center portion yet. To me, that should have been done before stripping the floor and putting down new flooring. At the Pharmacy, it looks like parts of the Pharmacy are at their permanent spot, other parts look like a temporary setup, but I know that it's all a work in progress. Unless they have not painted the ceiling yet, the gray ceilings make the store look dark and I don't particularly care for it. The new bottle return room is up and running, but construction is still happening in there. I'm wondering if you will be able to access the store from the bottle return room? The southwest area of the store is under complete construction. That is where the meat and seafood departments will move to and I think deli may also move some as well. Finally the last little bit of the old Grocery entrance glass atrium is now gone. Anyways that's about all I know. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't feel comfortable doing so and I was in a bit of a hurry too.

I guess that makes sense.

So I looked at the pictures of the Hudsonville Meijer store. I'm curious as to why the Alpine store didn't use those graphics. And from what they are doing to Clyde Park, I feel that Alpine should have been remodeled that way too. As for the signs at Alpine, the ones that hang from the ceiling I am not a huge fan of.

So a bigger exit door, but a smaller entry door eh? I also looked at the pictures of the Hudsonville Meijer store and I have the gut feeling that the Clyde Park store will use the same type of graphics used at Hudsonville.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post pictures. Wow what a huge difference already. I am however not sure of how I feel about the dark gray ceilings though.

Cool beans. If anyone feels comfortable taking pictures and would like to post them here, feel free to do so.

I'm going to miss those entrances too. Especially the retail entrance. Hey there how are you doing? Haven't seen you post in quite sometime. Have you been to Alpine Meijer since they remodeled? As for my comments in regards to this store, I'm glad to see that it's finally getting remodeled. I however thought that maybe it would be more of a level two remodel which is what the Southgate store got back in 2017. But probably being that since a majority of the Clyde Park store has drop ceiling in it, they opted to do a major remodel. I'm hoping that once the remodel is done that the drop ceiling is gone. The drop ceiling being gone would make the store feel bigger. When did they begin remodeling?

For 2018, meijer to open 6 new stores and remodel 20 of it's existing stores. 4 of the new stores will be in Michigan including the Bridge Street Market which I don't think will open this year as they still have a lot of work to do, another store will open in Hudsonville, MI, one in Marquette and one in Warren MI. Of the 20 stores being remodeled, 7 of those stores are in Michigan. Those locations include, Big Rapids, Chesterfield, Gaines Township, Grand Haven, Ludington, Saginaw and Sterling Heights. As to what type of remodel these stores will go through remains unknown. But if I were to guess, I would think Ludington would be a major remodel and Gaines Township would be a refresh. Hopefully more information will come out about this soon. https://www.meijer.com/content/content.jsp?pageName=grandopening#map

I was told that all Meijer stores eventually plan to scrap all the full size self checkout lanes. If it's theft that they are worried about, there wouldn't even be self checkout lanes at all. At Alpine, there's two sets of 6 on the grocery side and one set of 6 self-serve express checkout lanes. I would say that they need to improve upon their security. As of right now, I think the Meijer store on Clyde Park/54th street still has the full size self checkout lanes near the grocery section, but was told in July of 2016 that they would be going away. According to pictures in Google maps from like September 2017, they still have full size self-checkouts. I much rather check the items out myself rather than having a cashier check out our items.

Alpine Ave Meijer Finishing Updates As of November 5, 2017 with an announcement at the end. The biggest change since my last visit is the new cafe seating area which is now mostly complete. The cafe space features a theme from back in the day Meijer got started, has a brick like wallpaper, posters of what prices of stuff used to be back in the day, a coca-cola freestyle machine which that itself is working, but the ice maker is not working yet, nice lighting, tables and chairs and a coffee area. During the mornings, you can have a cup of coffee and a donut for just $1. However, the coffee cups and the coffee are there at the beverage station. If you were to look at it, you would think it's complimentary. But I'm told that it isn't. But there really isn't anyone watching inside the space to see whether you steal coffee or not as well as put soda in a cup to drink. The coffee cups are very small. We'll just have to see how this plays out overtime. The flooring on the back side of the checkout area is making progress. They've replaced the flooring up to lane 27 as of right now. The flooring between lanes 27 and 28 was stripped down to bare concrete and has yet to receive it's tile. In the HBA section, the lighting above the shelves contains advertisements. There's also an area in the electronics section that has this too. New directory maps have gone up in the entrances as well as at the price check/kiosks. However the directory maps at the price checking kiosks are just on a normal 8.5x11 inch piece of paper. With that being said, the re grand opening ceremony takes place next week Sunday from 12PM-4PM. They really need to get busy working so that everything would be done by the ceremony.

I don't know if the Alpine store will be getting the Wahlburger's restaurant as the construction taking place in the Alpine Meijer store doesn't appear to show signs of one going in, but it's certainly not out of the question for in the future. Anyways, it's time for the construction update for October 26, 2017: We will begin in the space where the new cafe is going to be. The cafe space received the new wooden floor which you will see throughout the center portion of the store and a coca-cola freestyle machine has made an appearance in the space. It is however not the same Coca-Cola freestyle machine that's in the front actionway. The front side door going into the deli section had a piece of wood over it as well. Also some of the lights that were up in the space have been removed, but now it looks darker in the space. They should move the current lights around to balance the light better. Next: I thought the remodel was pretty much done, but in the back concourse checkout lane area, the area from Lanes 10, 11 and 12 up to Lane 15 was sectioned off and had received new white floor tile. I will have to say that the new floor tile looks a lot brighter than the current white tile that is down. I'm beginning to wonder if all of the white tile throughout the entire store will be replaced? And in regards to the speakers that are in my last post near the Skechers mini store. Anytime ads are playing on the center TV, the sound comes through those speakers. Also, it seems that the store received a new intercom system too. The speakers appear to be the same, but anytime an associate comes over the PA system, you will hear a beep now. The lighting in the produce department was switched out to LED lights. Finally, in the HBA area, in several posts, I posted a picture that was located above the shelves on the other side of the retail cart storage room going to the pharmacy consultation room that there was a white background with some text in it. Turns out that those are lights as they were lit up. Didn't get a picture of it, but hope to next time unless it's something that will have advertisements in it. Pictures of the Cafe area:

Alpine Meijer Finishing Updates As of October 22, 2017: From this point on, all updates will be referred to as finishing updates as most of the remodeling is finished. With that being said, here's the latest of what's happening at Alpine Meijer. All of the new signage is up including the signs that were not replaced the other day when I was at the store such as restrooms, bottle return, etc... Also the new directional signs telling people where departments are located are also up throughout the store. Signs that are hanging such as the Jewelry and Accessories sign are in the center portion of the store. Signs that are up against a wall such as the health and wellness sign picture below, seasonal, toys, automotive, etc... are displayed on the walls. (See pictures below) The remodeling in the center portion of the store is essentially finished. All of the new flooring has been laid down. The entire center portion of the sales floor features a wooden like tile floor even though it's not real wood. All the shelving was in place and things are mostly stocked throughout that entire portion of that area. Items that were being housed in the action ways for the most part have since been moved to their respective departments. Over by where the skecher's mini store is at, there are some new speakers that appear to be hanging on the ceiling. See picture of them. I don't know what they are there for. Also see picture of the new monitors displaying different skecher's shoes. The area that used to house the Subway restaurant and what was the temporary clearance section hasn't had a lot done to it except for the fact that there is a backsplash on the lower half of the back wall and what appears to be a beverage counter in the space. Walls still have yet to be primed/painted and flooring laid down. In terms of the lighting in the space, I don't think the lights that are in there should be used. Or if they do use them, they should lay them out better. Maybe not many lights are needed in there. Also if anyone was at the store today, you may have noticed that there was no music playing or anything coming on over the speakers. Must be the audio system is broken down. So other than that, the light above lane 15 or 16 I think it is still needs a new bulb or fixture as it's still dim, at the checkout lanes on the grocery side of the store, you may have noticed that the first three lanes on the left say 1, 2, 3, the next set on the right say 4, 6, 8, in the 2nd set of self-serve checkout lanes it 5, 7, 9 and on the right of that it says 10, 11 and 12. I don't know who's idea it was to put those up like that, but they need to fix it. Also, I really want full size self checkout lanes back. If they don't bring them back, then increase the item limit in the express lanes as I prefer to use to self checkout lanes when checking out my groceries. I do believe the Meijer store on Clyde Park and 54th street still has the full size self checkout lanes. The store history on how Meijer got started is going to be located in both entrances as it appears to be the only place to put those up. There are things up on the wall that look like would hold that display. Here are my overall thoughts on the remodel. What I don't like: I don't like that there is no longer a furniture department in the store. Some furniture items Meijer sold were pretty good things such as Sauder furniture, department such as jewelry are very small and no longer have a display case with jewelry in them, there is only one set of fitting rooms for the women's, men's and kids clothing departments. But the set of fitting rooms is located in the women's department which is on the left side of the center portion. I think the fitting rooms should have been more towards the center of the clothing section. Or they should have built another set of fitting rooms towards the men's and kids clothing departments. Also not a huge fan of the signage they chose to go with. What the Meijer store on Knapp has I seem to like better. Also it seems some of the aisles are a little crammed too. What I do like: The store looks more like a high end grocery/department store with the changes. I personally like the wooden stuff they chose to go with.

Alpine Meijer updates as of October 18, 2017: One will notice throughout the store that permanent department signs are starting to go up representing their respective departments. Some of them are up, but not all of them. There are still temporary signs such as the restroom signs and bottle return room for instance. The new department signs are shaped like a square if hanging or are labeled on the walls. At the former subway space which was a temporary clearance section for a while, the outer wall that had a doorway on it has been completely demolished. In the space, new drywall has gone up and has been patched. I'm willing to believe the cafe may be returning that used to be there before the Subway went in it's place. The section west of the new baby department has been sectioned off, stripped of it's old flooring and was in the process of having cement put down to have new flooring going down which was taking place either today or night. Once that part of the flooring is done, there is only the center portion of where the former shoe department used to be that has yet to receive it's new flooring and the area be nice and organized. Shelving in the former shoe department that has been holding household goods was in the process of being cleared out. Parts of it were sectioned off too. The Skechers mini store now has the monitors up on the walls displaying pictures/slideshows of different shoes they offer. That's about all I saw for today. Once the area that has been bare concrete for quite sometime receives it's new flooring and shelving and stock go into place, as well as new directional signs telling where things are go up as well as a few miscellaneous items get fixed, changed, etc..., The remodel should be completed within the next 3-4 weeks just in time for the holiday shopping season ahead.

Just a few quick updates at the Alpine Meijer store as of October 12, 2017: Beginning at the temporary clearance space. The space was completely cleared out and well under construction. A new door way between it and the hot foods/deli area has been installed. I'm thinking that a new restaurant is in the works for the space. Heading to the checkout lane area, some of the checkout lanes were receiving upgraded conveyor belts and bagging carousels. They are wooden looking like many of the counters such as the customer service counter to name a few. The new home section is slowly but surely taking shape. It appears that the entire back section of the home section has received the new wooden floor, shelves put into place and stock going on them while shelves in the center part of the home section where the floor is still bare concrete are slowly being cleared out as that section will soon receive new tile of some sort. The wooden floor goes all the way to the old tile floor where the baby section was at. Where the old tile flooring is that is wood like looking that used to hold the baby section, it's holding home good items, but soon that flooring will be replaced with the new wooden tile flooring throughout the center area of the store. I did not go to the south end of the retail section today as I was in a hurry to get some stuff and get out. I'm sure more stuff has happened, but that's all I saw for today.

Alpine Meijer Updates As of October 5, 2017: Beginning where the old floral department used to be. The floral sign is still hanging there even though the floral department is no longer in that space anymore. The back of the home section just north of the shoe department had received new flooring and was in the midst of being stocked. Further north of that, there was a sectioned off area that had just received new flooring either overnight or earlier today and shelving was being moved into place. The reason I could tell that the flooring was just installed was from how awful of a smell there is back by the rear actionway. Moving to the north side of the store at the south grocery actionway which heads east/west. The new floral department is taking shape and is about 95% stocked. East of that, the new baby department is taking shape. Heading further east of that is currently holding items from the home department which will be the home department, but I still believe it has yet to receive it's new flooring. Still has the old flooring from the old baby section that was there. The area that has shelves that has the concrete floor still has concrete floor, but as the east side of the home section receives it's remodel with new flooring, shelves, stock, etc.. I anticipate that items in the area with bare concrete will move to their new homes very soon so that eventually the area with concrete will receive new flooring. In the grocery section, the meat cooler up against the north wall has received new decals as have some other areas of the grocery section. That's all I noticed as of right now. No pictures today though.

Alpine Meijer Updates As of October 1, 2017: Now before I begin, I didn't have a lot of time to be at the store so I'm sure many more things have taken place that I maybe forgot to report. With that being said, here we go with the updates. Beginning outside: All of the the lot lighting has been replaced with LED lights. They are white LED fixtures. Underneath the awning, all of the lighting has been replaced with LED lighting. Also, the meijer sign at the street currently holds a temporary meijer sign. Heading inside via the grocery entrance. The grocery entrance has received the carpet that the retail entranced received a few weeks ago. Also the restrooms in the grocery entrance have been renovated. They look pretty much the same as the restrooms nn the mezzanine floor. Also the walls in the grocery entrance have been painted a whitish/very light blue color. The walls are now awaiting the Welcome to your Alpine Meijer signs above the inner grocery entrance doors inside the grocery entry. Also the cart storage room has received the same color of paint on it's walls. Heading fully inside to the checkout lane area. All of the lane number signs have been changed out to the new style of numbers which are the blue numbers. The first six self-serve checkout lanes are now 12 items or less only. There is another set of six self serve check out lanes which are lanes 7-12 right next next to the first six lanes. Those too are also 12 items or less only. It it rumored that eventually more self serve checkout lanes will be added and that there will only be very few full size self checkout lanes. With the 6 new checkout lanes added, this brings the total number of checkout lanes to 36. (used to be 32 lanes). Also, the two fluorescent light fixtures by lanes 5 and 6 have finally been replaced with the new lights. However, the light further down which I'm not sure of what lane number it is now is still very dim. It also appears the the conveyor belt stands have been replaced as well. Also since the checkout lane area has received upgrades, the convenience center that would feature cigarettes and other tobacco items has been removed and it's very likely that they are no longer being sold in the store at all. You can still buy those items at the Meijer gas station as far as I know. Looking up on the mezzanine floor. It looks like the fluorescent light fixtures over the south stairway have been replaced with the new fixtures that are up there. I did not go up there during my visit today, so I'm not sure if wall work is completed or not. Heading to the retail section, one will notice some new graphics up on the walls throughout the retail section. These graphics are pictures that reflect their respective departments. For example, the HBA section has pictures of medicine bottles, thermometer, etc..., sporting goods has pictures of balls and stuff and so on and so forth. Many aisles in the seasonal department were being cleared of stock, but I'm pretty certain that stock for the season is being changed out. The center section of the store: This is the section of the store that is currently under major remodel at this time. Beginning at the southeast corner at the east/west actionway. Greeting cards have been moved over to the former kids department. The former kids department has received the new wood flooring title that you will see throughout most of the center section now and that section is now home to cards and party items. Moving west down the actionway, the floral department has moved to the northeast area boarding the south side of the grocery section east/west action way. The department has received gray flooring. It is in the process of slowly being stocked. However, one will notice that the floral sign is still hanging at the old floral department. This could confuse some people. So where cards and party gifts as well as the floral section used to be, it's now home to the women's clothing area. Further west of where the former floral department was, it's all women's clothing and other stuff I covered in previous updates. I can now say that construction appears to be about 90% finished on the border of the east/west action way in the retail section. Heading over to the bottle return room. The bottle return room has received the new tile that is in the restrooms, but it's the same color as the tile in the restrooms. And there are new ceiling tiles and lighting in the room. There is now only one sink in the bottle return room for washing hands. The room was very stinky though. Heading to the grocery section. The walls from above the dairy section going all the way to the delicious to go department (if it's still called that) received primer most likely and maybe paint, but I wouldn't know since I wasn't at the store for a couple of weeks. And then they received what looks to be like a wood paneling type of wall paper which also features decals of their respective departments. The dairy department is the only department to receive it's new sign that says Dairy. The meat and seafood sections as well as the bakery, and deli departments also received their new signs on awnings. They all say since 1934 but all say something a little different. Also, all of the aisle signs have been changed out the the dark blue style signs. The signs only have three rows stating what's down that aisle. There will still be 18 aisles as well. So bordering the south side of the east/west grocery action way, it starts with the new floral department, heading west of that is where stock was cleared out of and is currently holding various items I am going to predict that it will be home to the new baby section, heading further west, that section of the store was cleared out and is awaiting new flooring work, it is where the home department will begin which will go from about 1/2 way down the east/west action way on the grocery side and go all the way around to the edge of the north/south action way in the back leading up to the shoe department. The area that used to hold the shoe department currently holding home items still has not received new flooring. Over the next few weeks, everything from about where the new baby section will be located going west and more into the center that doesn't have any tile on the floor will be the focal construction zone. I am prediction that they have maybe 3-4 weeks of work to in the parts that have not already been remodeled in the center section of the store. So now the remodel is at a point to where I can safely make my predictions on what the center section of the store is going to look like. I know I've mentioned this a little bit above, but here is my full prediction. Beginning at the northeast side of the east/west grocery action way, that department will be floral, moving southward, it will be cards and party gift items, moving west of that will be the kids clothing department which will go a bit back, moving west of that will be the men's department which too also goes a bit back into the center portion, and then the women's department will be to the left of that and boarder the east/west action way on the retail side. That department will be larger than the rest of the departments. Behind the women's department on the right of the east/west action way will be the new jewelry department which to me is going to be much smaller than the old jewelry department. There won't even be a display case of different types of jewelry. West of that will be the shoe department which will feature the skechers mini store. The skechers mini store is waiting for it's TV monitor. Going down the north/south rear action way, north of the shoe department will begin the home department of various home items and it will boarder the clothing departments in the center. It will continue north of there to the grocery actionway and head a bit east of that until it boarders the baby department. The baby department will then boarder the floral department. Did you all notice that I left a department out? That's right. There will no longer be a furniture department in the store. Don't know why Meijer has decided to remove the furniture department from it's stores. All in all, the store is really beginning to take shape. I would estimate that the remodel has about another month to a month and a half until it's fully completed. The departments on the sides of the store are pretty much going to stay where they are. Some might get or have already received upgrades such as new shelving and counters.