mtburb

I have updated that model to include the old teal general merchandise section signs as well. They were based off of this photo, which took an eternity to find. Also, I have found a document which contains opening dates for every supercenter Meijer has ever built, including some that will open next year. Here is the link.

Also, the interior color scheme is different from the one at 8 Mile and Woodward, which is also closed overnight.

Meijer opened their second store in the city of Detroit yesterday.

The stores in Alpena and Manistee have officially opened today. Alpena: http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2015/05/new_meijer_store_opens_in_alpe.html Manistee: http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=1198477

It's far less known to us here, but 25 years ago, there was a situation similar to Acme in Bedford Township in Monroe County. The Toledo Blade had a lot articles on that one. Unlike Acme, though, this Meijer was never built. Here's one of the articles: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19910123&id=k0dPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FAMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4618,6435490&hl=en Here are the rest of the numerous articles about the cancelled Bedford Township Meijer: https://www.google.com/search?site=webhp&q=site:google.com/newspapers+meijer+bedford&sa=X&ei=D6Y2VZv2IonasASC1oDYAQ&ved=0CBwQgwM&biw=1920&bih=969

First off, no. Secondly, I would like to try that one day. In other news: there's a button right at the bottom of the Meijer homepage that when clicked on will bring you to a grand opening section. Here's what's listed: Sunday, May 3rd: Alpena, Manistee Thursday, May 21st: The first two Rockford, IL locations June: Second Detroit store, first Wisconsin stores August: Additional Wisconsin stores Later this year: Acme Township, Terre Haute What happened to the tradition of having grand openings on Tuesdays? Another thing: there was some sort of reset a while ago that reset everyone's default stores to Knapp's Corner.

As of the beginning of this month, the Chase branch in the Southgate store has closed permanently. All signs have been removed and tarp has been put in over it's entrances. It is unknown if Huntington will take the alcove over, though.

One of the original Flint-area stores is closing. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/02/pierson_road_meijer_in_mount_m.html

UPDATE: Other than the Chase branch alcove, it's business as usual at the Southgate store. The grocery entrance has been unchanged.

What may be the start of another remodeling project has begun at the Southgate Meijer. It was last remodeled nearly ten years ago, where it received the interior layout it has today, thus this fits in with the "remodel every ten years" requirement. Went there today and noticed that the grocery entrance was closed off in blue tarp and that there were workers in the vestibule. I also heard loud noises coming from the tools that they were using from the deli counter, just about ten steps away. In addition, the store's Chase branch is consolidating with a standalone branch a mile south on March 26th. I presume that Huntington will be replacing it, since they do have an exclusive contract for in-store branches. And a final picture of the branch itself.

Here are two vintage Meijer commercials from the 1980's. 1989 (recorded from a Traverse City television station): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGEyYIBdLZE 1985: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLm8QnVI7xc

Yep, that's how it came out when I imported a Google Maps aerial onto Sketchup and traced the outline over the building. About #1-it was the first store in what's referred to as Village Square, which ran in various incarnations from 1999 to 2005. About #3-well, it's finally opening in late 2015. Another interesting tidbit: it seems that Meijer almost always opens new stores on a Tuesday. Is there some sort of reason for that? Yet another interesting tidbit: there are only five supercenters that Meijer has had to shutter, all except for one case to relocate to a newer supercenter a few miles away. Store #1, 1220 North Lafayette Street, Greenville, Michigan (closed 2001, gas station still on property). Is now a BMX store. Store #49, 1155 North 21st Street, Newark, Ohio (closed 2013, this one did not close due to a newer supercenter). Vacant. Store #59, 5800 Chantry Drive, Columbus, Ohio (closed 2008). Is now a used-car dealership. Store #60, 775 Georgesville Road, Columbus, Ohio (closed 2008). Is now a U-Haul storage center. Store #101, 2744 Harshman Road, Dayton, Ohio (opened 1991, closed 2008). Demolished. One more interesting tidbit: when Meijer opened it's first two stores in the Cincinnati market on May 7, 1996, it invited several celebrities over at one of the stores-including, of all people, Batman and Robin! (source)

Here's pictures of the Meijer in Southgate, Michigan. Store Number: 123 Address: 16300 Fort Street, Southgate, Michigan 48195 Phone Number: (734) 284-5300 (since December 1997, originally (313) 284-5300) Opening Date: August 30, 1994 at 7 AM as the third Meijer store in the Downriver Detroit suburbs. In-Store Tenants: Chase Bank & ATM, Subway 232,182 Square Feet This Meijer was constructed from 1993 to 1994 on the former site of two different movie theaters: the Fort George Drive-In Theater and the indoor Southgate 4 Theaters. It is located right along an S-curve on Fort Street just north of Pennsylvania Road in the east central Downriver Detroit area and two SMART bus routes stop conveniently right at the general merchandise entrance. The extent of it's market reach covers most of Southgate, much of Wyandotte south of Ford Avenue (Northline Road), far northeast Trenton and northern Riverview, all of which were previously served by the Taylor store until 6:59 AM on August 30, 1994. It once served the northern ends of Southgate and Wyandotte, Lincoln Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, eastern Allen Park, Melvindale and southwest Detroit until the Lincoln Park store opened on November 9, 2004. The store originally opened with three restaurants (Fred's American Grill, Pizza Pan Pizzeria, Wonton's Oriental Restaurant), a Michigan National Bank branch and ATM and a shoe repair place called Pell's Shoe Repair Bank as the in-store tenants. However, all of these have since been removed. There was also briefly a Cingular wireless store in the mid-2000's. Beginning in 2005, the store was reconfigured into the Rockwell prototype, which ended in early 2007 when the current Meijer logo was placed on the building, gas station and road signs. However, some features from the classic interior have been retained: the bottle return is still at the back of the store next to dairy and cursive signage for the bottle return and cheese areas still exists. This store seems to be doing real well, considering that on November 18, 1998, a Super Kmart opened right across Fort Street that closed permanently on October 12, 2014, as well as facing competition from a "Wally World" that opened on September 14, 2011 in another part of Southgate on the site of a former shopping center, which itself replaced another drive-in theater. And now for the pictures: The grocery entrance. The facade is a typical example of the Indiana Pineapple style, which was the first in the Original Glass Curtain Wall Series, which ran until 1997, when it was replaced by the Presidential style debuted by the Knapp's Corner store. The Indiana Pineapple style is so named because Meijer wanted to enter the Indiana market with a prototype that would introduce the state to the store as a "store of discovery". Different shaped facades were used, including the yellow pineapple-like appendage that housed either Wonton's or Pizza Pan, as well as a facade with red gable roofs on all sides and four windows each on each visible side. These are why the Indiana Pineapple style is my favorite Meijer architectural style. The Pharmacy Drive-Up window and the garden center entrance. The wall above the canopy in this area originally had a "Why Pay More!" sign. And like all other classic Meijers, the pharmacy was originally located next to the bottle return at the back of the store, however, to confirm to the Rockwell prototype, it was moved to the front of the store (displacing the photo counter, which itself moved into E4) and received the drive-up window. This also shows how the construction went so well the building shows no sign of deterioration or damage despite having existed for two entire decades. And now to the interior. Here's what you'll see when you enter through the grocery entrance. The bakery counter (background left) was originally the deli. From the opposite direction. The Subway, which opened in very late 2012, is located within the yellow pineapple appendage. I am not sure whether Wonton's or Pizza Pan were in that appendage originally. The remaining cafe. This was originally Fred's American Grill and there are still some remnants from Fred's, which include the windows, the black-and-white tile (both of which made it resemble a 1950's roadside diner) and the fact that there is/was a counter behind where I stood here. Out-of-frame to the right is the former bakery counter, now blocked off by shelving units. Meat and seafood counters: A little further up. Back room: Looking towards the bottle return area. What was the location of the pharmacy in the classic interior is now pets. Inside the bottle return: The back of the pets area. Nearly out-of-frame to the left are the fish aquariums, which are located where the pharmacy counter was. The green tile you see at the bottom-left is possibly a remnant from the pharmacy, as well as the low ceiling. The rear corridor. Looking towards the back-right corner from a checkout lane. This area in the back area of the store once housed layaway before Meijer permanently discontinued it. Jewelry counter: Looking towards the pharmacy and HBC areas from another checkout. I believe they were formerly the photo and pets areas. Front corridor: Current store map: And to give you an approximation of what this store (and Knapp's Corner) looked like when it originally opened, here's the original store map of a Louisville store archived from the 1998 Meijer site on archive.org. There are some slight differences with the Southgate store, though.

It appears that Acme Township wasn't the only recent controversy regarding a new store-Meijer has also hit trouble in planning a store in Flat Rock, but this time, the store will actually be built. Here are some links from earlier this year and last year. Monroe Evening News: http://www.monroenews.com/news/2013/sep/13/meijer-hopes-open-flat-rock-store-2015/ The News-Herald: http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/07/10/news/doc53bf2291713e3732016506.txt WDIV-TV: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Flat-Rock-approves-new-Meijer-store-plan/20799404 Below are renderings from the website of the subdivision it's located in. The Flat Rock store will look similar to the new look of the Knapp's Corner store, but will have right-handed groceries, unlike the left-handed groceries used at Knapp's Corner. Gas station: Site plans (it seems weird to place a new Fred right in the middle of a residential area, then again, the lot was zoned residential before the rezoning): Maybe I or The Squirrel should fire up Sketchup and predict the interior of this store. EDIT: Here is a complete list of stores that will open next year: Kenosha, Wisconsin Machensey Park, Illinois Rockford, Illinois Alpena, Michigan Grafton, Wisconsin Oak Creek, Wisconsin Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Manistee, Michigan Acme Township, Michigan (finally!) Old Redford, Detroit, Michigan Terre Haute, Indiana

And I did some more digging into archive.org and I discovered something interesting. If you click here, you will notice that the logo used is the old one, but if you click on the right-pointing arrow at the top to go to the next iteration, the site magically changes and the current logo appears. Plus, check out the store locators on the 1996 site-it's amazing how they had to resort to making their own maps and directions since Google Maps (which they use now) didn't exist back then. Great news-this may open up a window of opportunity for expanding into western Pennsylvania and eventually into West Virginia and the Buffalo, New York market. Plus, right now, Clevelanders have to travel all the way to Sandusky for the nearest Meijer. And by the way, here's some Sketchup predictions of what I think the store in Stow will look like. View from within the Stow-Kent Plaza: View from the grocery entrance: View from the GM (general merchandise, not General Motors) entrance: E4: Produce area: Pharmacy and HBC: Seafood and meat counters: Clothing: Looking towards the grocery entrance from pets: Checkouts: Floor plan: And finally, here's a screenshot of a Meijer I had created to go in at Jefferson Avenue and Conner Street (southwest corner) on Detroit's southeast side. It is identical to the Stow store, but the floor plan is mirrored, placing groceries on the right. I also added an interior to this. The stores both use modified versions of the same model by our fellow squirrel. I also took cues from photographs of Meijer stores that opened this year.

Well, as you may know, the Meijer website first debuted in 1996, so, I decided to look on archive.org and I found this from November 10, 1996. Below is a screenshot from this page to give you an idea of what that site looked like back then. Even more unbelievably, when you click on the link, the page that appears is identical to the screenshot-pretty amazing for having been around for 18 years! Not only that, but I now know that they were already in Kentucky by November 1996. It's unbelievable that back then the site looked more like a shoestring-budget website when you compare it with the current Meijer website. And finally, I now know what my local store in Southgate offered back in November 1996: three restaurants (Fred's American Grill, Pizza Pan Pizzeria, Wonton's Oriental Restaurant), a Michigan National Bank branch and ATM and a shoe repair place called Pell's Shoe Repair Bank.

I did not even know that. Did that also apply to the old italic teal general merchandise signs? And speaking of which-is there still a Meijer store that's at most a half-hour or an hour from Wyandotte (or at least located right along a SMART bus route) that still has a timewarped interior (for example the red and teal signs I mentioned, italic numbers on the checkout signs, very tall shelves in the cereal aisle and the E4 area being broken up into three-to-four separate departments)? I only have a limited time for an answer before every single one has been remodeled with the Rockwell interior or the Cascade interior. Had I asked this a couple years ago the answer would've been "Taylor's the closest" but that has since been remodeled.

Well, I have just created a Sketchup model depicting the grocery aisle signs Meijer used to use. Download them here: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=uc0ae6395-9e55-450f-9e4f-38d59d19346c And here's a screenshot to show you: They were based on signs in this image used in this article.

In fact, Meijer has had a long loyal following not only in Grand Rapids, but across the Lower Peninsula as well. And about the Dearborn Super Kmart-well, it's been taken over by that infamous smil-oh wait, they've replaced that with a sunburst. EDIT: Well, here's a spreadsheet I started. Feel free to tell me what I should fill in in anything that's still blank in it. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApXRcMSC1oqcdDlpS1hZclVoc2VFNXlrdzY0RmpJZXc&usp=sharing

Thanks! I remember the grand opening of Southgate very well-at the time, I had just moved into a bungalow tract house in Wyandotte (not the same house I currently live in) and remember the ads well in our local papers. I also remember the drive-in theater that was on that site before a Meijer was even planned for that site-there was also a four-screen indoor theater where the gas station is now that stayed open after the drive-in closed for a couple more years before closing itself when the Meijer was announced.

Hello UPers, this is just my very first post on here. I would like to know the exact opening dates of the three original Meijer stores in the Downriver Detroit communities of Taylor, Woodhaven and Southgate. Taylor opened sometime in 1978 (and received a remodel in the 1990's, receiving the Knapp's Corner-style entry gables, the "MEIJER Fresh" logo and the red Times New Roman grocery aisle signage), Woodhaven opened sometime in early 1990 and Southgate opened sometime in 1994. All three stores have since been remodeled into the David Rockwell interior layout prototype-Southgate in late 2006, Woodhaven in late 2010 and Taylor in the summer of 2013-Taylor, in fact, was remodeled in a way similar to the Alpine Avenue store in the earlier pages on this thread. Below are pictures of the three stores I'm talking about. Taylor: Woodhaven: Southgate: BTW, Taylor is store #35, Woodhaven is store #70 and Southgate is store #123. Taylor and Woodhaven have the grocery area to the right, while Southgate has it's grocery area to the left. And from one subject to another: I would like to share these Sketchup visualizations showing what three Super Kmart sites would look like if Meijer took the leases over and completely remodeled them. They all use the Meijer store model by UP-er tamias6 from the 3D Warehouse, but slightly modified. Bradley, Illinois: Madison Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana: Frazho Road and Gratiot Avenue in Roseville, Michigan (this would be the second Meijer in Roseville): Thanks and don't forget the welcome messages!