cammers1995

Everyone who is familiar with the Gault Village Shopping center on the corner of emerick/grove rds off i94 knows just how bad this plaza is. The entire place is falling apart and hasn't been maintained at all in decades. Formally housing a kmart, A&P, Farmer Jack and more, the plaza last year only contained a family dollar, a Chinese restaurant and a cleaners. Now, it's completely empty. I drove over there today to see several bits of it fenced off and board up and family dollar, the Chinese place and the cleaners are now closed. The entire plaza is 100% vacant. I'm curious what's going to happen with it now. It's definitely not safe. You can literally see into several former stores through windows and see the ceilings have collapsed.

I don't live in GR area anymore like I used to (I moved to Belleville) but I'm impressed that Meijer is showing the Detroit side of the state some love too. Meijer is currently fully remodelling Canton, Jackson (east Michigan Ave) and ypsilanti stores and they look fantastic. The ypsilanti store was unique in that it had never been renovated since at least the 80s (with the exception of new signs) and still featured the old drop ceiling, weird department placements and the exterior was extremely old and looked similar to the former Plainfield Ave location in GR. Ypsilanti, Jackson and Canton were all older and now look like fresh built Meijer stores inside and out. According to the Belleville independent the Belleville Meijer will start a renovation in 2022 and Westland may follow. I'm impressed with how fast Meijer is renovating stores especially during this pandemic. The new store designs are beautiful imo which im surprised about. I haven't been impressed with meijers store design or layouts for over a decade now. The new designs are great. I really like how Canton moved frozen to the back of the store rather than front and like how they moved electronics back to the center of the store rather than the far right corner.

My brother and aunt both work for Meijer store #55, which is on east Michigan avenue in Jackson MI. They both told me the store is approved for a complete remodel which involves a completely new front face and a complete layout overhaul. They don't know much else but apparently the design will look similar to the Ionia Meijer facade. My aunt says she will tell me when she hears more. I'll add that it REALLY needs it. I don't know if any of y'all have been in there lately but its a dump. It hadn't been remodeled since early 2000s which all they did was close off the original general merchandise entrance, cover all the windows and add a pharmacy drive up. Other than that its looked the same basically since I remember and its falling apart. The store is gross and the bathrooms are horrific. Its also really dated. It helped improve the design when they covered the windows and removed the recessed drop ceiling (making it more similar to a Walmart) but its still old and dated. Also, one last thing. Meijer on east Michigan ave is the only major grocery store on the east side of town and supporting the areas such as Michigan center and leoni (not counting dollar general or tree) because on April 7th the Kroger located only a couple blocks from east side meijer closed its doors after about 45 years in business. This gives meijer basically a monopoly over here right now.

I work at the greenville meijer. The store manager recently talked with corporate and the type c design is not being used. Greenville IS getting a new exterior design, but it is of a yet undisclosed "modernistic retro" design as he put it. Also, meijer now once again owns the former meijer building on Lafayette Street here in town that currently houses a bmx track and a thrift shop. The managers were all told that recently. No idea why meijer owns it. The location isn't very good, greenville isn't big enough for two meijers AND the building is in extremely bad condition. It's falling apart. I wouldn't be surprised if it got condemned in a year or so. Also, my cousins Angie and Logan work at the Jackson mi location on East Michigan avenue (I grew up with this meijer) and it's also getting a renovation inside and out according to their manager. Its sad the Greenville Meijer that opened in 2001 that replaced the old store will be redone, because it contains many left overs from the old store, like the E4 signs in the photo area.

I hate to bump this old photo, but I have a bit of a backstory and history of this Meijer store. It is from my hometown, built just right next to the city limits of Jackson, and it is either store #50 or #55 (Can't remember), but it was built in the early 80s. The store, however, used to be nearly identical to the abandoned store in Greenville, but eventually had major extensions and renovations of the years, including a huge overhaul and extension to the produce department. The first section I outlined in red never existed before the 90s. It was originally an outdoor garden center. The entrance areas looked just like the ones at the closed Greenville Meijer Store, and the current garden center never existed. This all happened in a 90s renovation of the store. (All of that information from family members who worked there). Now what I DO know first hand, was in 2005 a huge renovation project began starting with a new paved parking lot. Also, every window was covered in the building for some unknown reason, and the non 24 hour entrance was covered up in favor of the third entrance becoming a primary entrance. Around this time, the store also lost the original logo and the "Fresh" tagline, and got the new updated sign. Point is, this Meijer keeps expanding. A recent news article in the Jackson CitPat paper showed Meijer is planning to purchase property along Sheridan Rd (Right behind the store) and demolish them, so that the garden center can be expanded. Another funfact: This is one of two stores in Jackson. This store was built in the early 80s, while the other one, located by the Jackson Airport, was built in the early 90s. The Airport meijer had a drive up bank and a large hallway indoors with several shops. (like a mall), but both had been removed in the early 2000s renovation of that store.