Alpine Meijer To Get New Face

[tamias6]

Rightfully so. By implementing the never before tried idea of one stop shopping, Fred was leading the company in the biggest leap of faith in its history. I remember going to a Meijer store for the very first time. That was the 28th street and K'zoo location. We purchases our groceries, some clothing, and a container of motor oil that day. It was a very odd sight to see all those things that would normally bought at different stores in the same cart. That was in '85. So I could only imagine how Meijer's customer felt back in the 60's about such a combination of items in the same cart.

[Eridony]

Rightfully so. By implementing the never before tried idea of one stop shopping, Fred was leading the company in the biggest leap of faith in its history. I remember going to a Meijer store for the very first time. That was the 28th street and K'zoo location. We purchases our groceries, some clothing, and a container of motor oil that day. It was a very odd sight to see all those things that would normally bought at different stores in the same cart. That was in '85. So I could only imagine how Meijer's customer felt back in the 60's about such a combination of items in the same cart.

[tamias6]

Construction Update:

Outside: One of the doors of the new grocery entrance was blocked off today as a Man lift was positioned in front of it to allow workers to install glass panes on the entrance's north side. Meanwhile at the retail entrance, all but two of the glass panes are up on the the front curtain wall.

As work continues on the front facade and the two entrances. Workers were attaching metal furring strips on the new brick work sealing off the former garden center entry. This indicates that the building's decorative facade will wrap around the NE corner of the building. It will then extend 60 feet down the building's north elevation and terminate at the bump out housing the first three loading docks.

Wrapping things up outside, workers have excavated a large pit just south of the gas station and in the process of installing very large storm drain components.

Inside: As one enters the store via the new grocery entrance, fist to be seen are workers in self propelled man lifts madding up the new wall obcuring the the north stair well. Heading into the produce dept., one will see that some of the plastic shrouding the former deli and bakery is down. In place of the old bakery is the new home for breads as well as Hostess and Little Debbie type of snacks. Though the wall overhang above the bread still needs primer and paint as well as finishing touches to stocking of the shelves, this area is open to the public.

Meanwhile items in the grocery area continue to play musical chairs as stock is still in the mist of being rearranged. For example laundry detergents and dish soaps have been nudged forward from aisle 17 to 16 while canned goods are making their way to the former location of breads across the aisle form breakfast cereals. So its still a treasure hunt in the grocery section.

However stocking of the new meat and seafood counters are nearly complete with only one of the sea food displays and the lobster tank to go. So workers had better hurry up and finish trimming out the walls defining the work area behind the counters as meats and seafoods looks to be opening up any day now.

Lastly, some ceiling tiles in the mezzanine were missing. Apparently this is due to work going on to the store's electrical wiring or more likely to the store's data network cables as the ceiling titles above a handful of checkout lanes were missing or pushed off to the side as well.

Now for some pictures.

Furring Strips to extend the building's decorative facade going up on the north side.

Installation of mullion strips to the grocery entrance's north side are complete and awaiting glass panes.

Installation of the retail entrance's glass panes are almost done

Installation of storm drain components just south of the gas station

Its a good thing shoppers are paying Meijer Prices in-store as today's gas prices are definitely not Meijer prices.

[pcdoctor]

I forgot to mention it, but it could have possibly been fixed by today. One row of lighting in the retail area closer to the grocery concourse looked like some of it's lights were missing. If you were by the checkout area, you could see some lights there, then a strip of nothing going towards the rear concourse, then it picked up again halfway to the rear concourse. I'm not for sure if they were installing another of lights, or if something had gone wrong with that string of lights, or if they were just doing repairs. All the lights were out though. Also, some lights are still crooked.

Also, take a look at both entrances closely. If you look at the side of each entrance in the pictures, do you notice how the grocery entry has bigger side panels to have glass and the retail entry only having really small side panels. What could be the cause of that??

Are they even planning to take shelving out in the grocery area to replace floor tiles at all?? Or is all the stuff being moved to temporary locations? Do they even plan to install new shelving in the grocery area?

This was also on tonight's news as well. There was a helicopter over the Alpine Meijer store this morning. It was there because it was lifting an air conditioner unit up to the roof. They had to close the Alpine Meijer for a bit today during this process, but has since reopened.

[Zomby-Woof]

Are they even planning to take shelving out in the grocery area to replace floor tiles at all?? Or is all the stuff being moved to temporary locations? Do they even plan to install new shelving in the grocery area?

[Veloise]

...

This was also on tonight's news as well. There was a helicopter over the Alpine Meijer store this morning. It was there because it was lifting an air conditioner unit up to the roof. They had to close the Alpine Meijer for a bit today during this process, but has since reopened.

[tamias6]

The asymmetry of the grocery entrance's side panels is due to the how the upper half of the front facade takes shape. If one were to closely study the building one will notice that for the northern most 80 feet of the building the upper facade is flush with the wall. Where as the rest of the upper facade south of the new grocery entrance is bumped out by about 18-24 inches from the wall. This is also why the mezzanine windows appear to be so deeply inset into the building.

The reason why the upper facade south of the grocery entry is bumped out is to compensate for the undulating wall 20 feet south of the center entrance. The undulations appear to be non structural though. So they could have been removed in favor of a straight wall. It would have enabled the upper facade to be flush throughout the whole store front. This would have resulted in a more symmetrical appearance for the grocery entrance and large side panels for the retail entrance. However, Meijer and the renovation's architects must have determined that it was prohibitive to remove the undulations to make for a straight and flush facade. Perhaps the undulations are indeed structural. Or maybe their removal is somehow too costly. Thus they chose to leave the undulations in place, bump out the facade to compensate, and modify the design of grocery and retail entrances accordingly.

As for the helicopter and the A/C unit bit, I wish I would been there to see it. Needless to say my camera's memory card would have been filled to bursting of pictures of the action.

I forgot to mention it, but it could have possibly been fixed by today. One row of lighting in the retail area closer to the grocery concourse looked like some of it's lights were missing. If you were by the checkout area, you could see some lights there, then a strip of nothing going towards the rear concourse, then it picked up again halfway to the rear concourse. I'm not for sure if they were installing another of lights, or if something had gone wrong with that string of lights, or if they were just doing repairs. All the lights were out though. Also, some lights are still crooked.

Also, take a look at both entrances closely. If you look at the side of each entrance in the pictures, do you notice how the grocery entry has bigger side panels to have glass and the retail entry only having really small side panels. What could be the cause of that??

Are they even planning to take shelving out in the grocery area to replace floor tiles at all?? Or is all the stuff being moved to temporary locations? Do they even plan to install new shelving in the grocery area?

This was also on tonight's news as well. There was a helicopter over the Alpine Meijer store this morning. It was there because it was lifting an air conditioner unit up to the roof. They had to close the Alpine Meijer for a bit today during this process, but has since reopened.

[Zomby-Woof]

I find that hard to believe! Ever been in the evening of Dec 24? The staff is frantically trying to implement the closing protocol last practiced a year before. AFAIK it takes most of December to even find the door key!

Maybe they shut down an entrance and had customers stay out of one section, in case the HVAC fell through the roof. That I'd believe.

[tamias6]

Construction Update:

All the glass for both the retail and grocery entrances are in place. Inside the Retail Entrance's vestibule a pair of workers in a man lift were putting finishing touches on securing the glass to it mullions. Meanwhile the walls of the grocery entrance vestibule received a coat primer. Also more furring strips to extend the decorative facade to the north north side of the building have appeared while furring strips mentioned in my last update are now covered with a red colored fiber board.

Heading inside. Delicious to Go has been painted and has most of its decorative graphics in place. Also commercial grade appliances and other machinery needed for its operation are being installed. The cafe next to Delicious to Go had some pictures hung on two of its walls. Heading to the former deli and bakery area, new walls are quickly taking shape. Meats and Seafoods is now about 80% stocked. Only one of the seafood counters and the lobster tank need to be stocked.

In the grocery section proper, aisle 1 is receiving new coolers which I assume will be home to cold beers. While the rearrangement of stock that has been going on for the last few days appears to be winding down. Also the new aisle numbers has received most of the item description inserts. Strangely though the aisle number sign at the north end of aisle 17 still needs to be installed. The hardware that holds the sign is affixed to the ceiling but the sign itself is not there. I assume this must be due to some technical problems on the sign makers part or work on the HVAC system is preventing that signs installation.

Wrapping up updates to the grocery section are three more coolers being installed in the area of the former bakery and deli.

In the retail section, work on the building's HVAC system must have shut down the AC as that section of the store felt quite stuffy today. Anyway moving on. The plywood temporary wall over the retail entrance has been taken down. The immediate area is now flooded with natural light. Though this is a mile stone for the retail entry, it lags behind the grocery entrance as the wall around the cart storage area still needs to be drywalled and the vestibule still needs allot of interior finish work.

On to some Pictures:

Glass Complete on the Grocery Entry

Another shot of the Grocery Entrance's glass. I love the use of tons of glass in any architecture. The more the merrier.

Red fiber board now covering furring strips on the north side.

Had to post this shot of the Alpine Meijer's famous bearded cart pusher sporting his signature ZZtop beard. He's been working at this store for lord only knows how long. Rock on dude!!

Glass complete on the retail entry.

Last but not least I purchased this at the store today.

Got to love Fred's sense of humor.

[tamias6]

Construction Update:

The biggest and most obvious change today is taking place directly above the center entrance. Stud work for the Alpine Meijer's new and gargantuan primary sign is shaping up. The top edge of the new sign rises roughly 10 feet above the buildings roof line and nearly 30 feet from the ground. The massiveness of the new sign is meant to accommodate the same gigantic font size of the signs that appear on new Meijer store. To illustrate the letter "j" of a new store's sign measures approximately 15 feet tall from bottom to the top. Needless to say that unless one is completely illiterate or totally blind, it will be known to the far corners of the earth that this store is a Meijer store through and through. One other note about this section of the store front. Instead of removing the mezzanine windows and filling them in, it appears workers have opted to simply wall them over.

On a smaller scale, are finishing touches being made to markings defining new handicap parking slots located in the row of parking directly in front of the retail entrance. On the north side of the building red colored fiberboard now covers all the furring strips installed over the last couple of days. Lastly work continues on the retail entry's vestibule and on attachment points that will allow the entrance to carry the canopy across its face.

Heading inside, a peak through the plastic shrouding the area of the former deli and bakery will reveal that the new wall being built is currently being covered in drywall. Also one can see a doorway into the back rooms forming next to where breads are now kept. The area between the plastic and the new meat and seafood counters, the floor has been striped of its old tiles but is still open to the public.

Meanwhile in the grocery section proper the second row of frozen food coolers are powered up, illuminated, and are in the beginning stages of being stocked. Also over the last row of old coolers, infrastructure for their replacements has been hung on the ceiling. Speaking of the coolers, the glass doors of the new coolers feature a coating that effectively prevents them from fogging over when the door is opened. So don't expect to draw smiley faces or write nasty words on the insides of these cooler doors. Last but not least is the appearance of new floor tile filling a space surrounding the retail entrance.

Now for some pictures:

The new primary store sign starting to take shape. To say its going to be huge is an understatement.

New Handicap Parking slots freshly painted. A Meijer cart pusher just began removing the tipped over shopping carts barricading the area off when I took this shot. That's how new these slots are. I'm assuming handicap slots will also be defined near the grocery entrance as well.

[pcdoctor]

If one were to visit the Alpine Meijer store today, one would maybe want to immeadiately walk out of the store. The reason for it is the fact that there's a very strong chemical like type of smell right by the grocery entrance/produce area. Not only that, most of the specials advertised in this week's grocery ad aren't even in the store. This is based on from what I heard.

[tamias6]

I was there today at about 4:00pm. The order must have dissipated by then as I could smell nothing out of the ordinary. The only real complaint right now is that some parts of the retail section are still a bit stuffy but not as bad as my last visit. But that must be due to work on the buildings HVAC system.

If one were to visit the Alpine Meijer store today, one would maybe want to immeadiately walk out of the store. The reason for it is the fact that there's a very strong chemical like type of smell right by the grocery entrance/produce area. Not only that, most of the specials advertised in this week's grocery ad aren't even in the store. This is based on from what I heard.

[pcdoctor]

Doc's Update:

If one were to visit the store today, you could notice that most of the windows on the mezzanine floor have been walled over in this yellow insulation. That was about the biggest thing on the outside:

Moving Inside: First, when you enter through the new grocery entrance and look to the left, you will notice that all the barricades that were surrounding the new restrooms have been removed. The news is that now all the restrooms in the new grocery entrance are now open. I went in there today and they are much nicer compared to the ones on the mezzanine floor. Fountains by the bathrooms though are warm water.

Now going completly in the store. Delicious to go did not open today. The drop ceiling is still not completed in there and not all of the equipment was installed either. But the cafe was looking rather nice. I also noticed that there's no where in sight any signs of a purple cow going back in the store. If there is, where are they going to put it?

Moving on: I saw the back of the wall taking shape between meats and the old deli/bakery area. There is now a new cooler next to where the meats are, but they aren't running yet. I'm anticipating that this would hold more meats. Also saw the two new chest coolers in the center. Those aren't even running yet. Floor right around there still has some spots where it's cement. The meat/seafood department is now open, but not all products are there. I think the new departments are smaller compared to the old ones.

In the grocery areas: Since my last visit to meijer, stuff has really moved around. Where I would normally get granola bars, pop tarts, and candy, I had to go to different locations for those. Also, pop has been moved to the aisle where candies and stuff used to be. Also, all the shelves look like they appear to be in their permanent places. I didn't see any extremely wide/narrow aisles, but one thing I noticed. They don't appear to be 4 cart wide aisles at all.

Also as I said in previous updates, some items advertised in the paper as specials for this week are no where to be found in the store. Visit Wilson meijer or another meijer store near you that isn't remodeling for that type of stuff.

In the retail section, it wasn't feeling too hot/cold there. It could be from the fact that it got a bit cooler outside last night. Also, you will notice new HVAC units being installed in some of the old parts of the retail section as well.

Up front: the retail entrance is still moving kinda slow with it's interior work, but looks like the walls have been drywalled and mudded. Cart storage room starting to take shape there. And at the location of the supposed vision center/starbucks coffee, work is moving very very slow. The new north stairwell is not open yet, but the plywood up on the mezzanine going into the stairwell has been removed. And the cart storage room at the grocery entrance is starting to take shape. I think the walls need to be primered/painted yet and the doors hooked up. It may start being used mid-late next week.

Well that about covers it for today.

[Veloise]

... I also noticed that there's no where in sight any signs of a purple cow going back in the store. If there is, where are they going to put it? ...

[tamias6]

That's strange. The Standale Meijer has a purple cow while the Alpine Meijer has been promising its return since the renovation forced its closure. Also the Purple Cow is just as much a Meijer tradition as the Penny Horses. If the purple cow has been discontinued it must have been done very recently and without prior notice. If the purple cow is still around, it will in the form a simple cabinet with a couple of graphic decals applied to its body.

New Fred's and reno'ed ones, no longer have the Purple Cow.

[Zomby-Woof]

New Fred's and reno'ed ones, no longer have the Purple Cow.

[tamias6]

Confirmed. I was at the store an hour ago. The Purple Cow is still alive and kicking. It's white ice cream cooler is parked in Delicious to Go. Take a look at the cafe. Then move your gaze northward to the flat counters that begins Delicious to Go then north again to the white ice cream cooler next to the flat counters. That's the Purple Cow. It can't be missed as it is the only white fixture in the whole Deli and Delicious to Go area. Anyway, all except for one display cabinet is in place. So I'm estimating that it will be less than two weeks before Delicious to Go and the Purple Cow will be stocked and finally open.

I was their today and noticed that the ice cream cooler for the old purple cow sitting in the new Delicious to Go. That gives me hope that the purple cow will be returning.

[pcdoctor]

Based on What I heard:

They were doing something in the delicious to go area today that was making a real high pitched noise that someone probabily could not tolerate at all. It was like once you walked into the store, you almost wanted to walk right back out or get as far away from that area to avoid the noise.

The one frozen food cooler still hasn't been torn out yet.

The u scanners in the u-scans on the north end of the store have been causing a lot of malfunctions. Errors would pop up on a lot of items being scanned.

[tamias6]

Construction Update:

Looks like allot of progress has been done outside over the pass couple of days. The new sign is completely framed up. Not it along with most of the facade is covered with yellow exterior sheeting. By the time I left the store scaffolding has been erected on top of the store front canopy in front of the new sign. This new scaffolding I assume will to allow workers to install finish surfaces on the sign, most likely stucco work.

On the north side of the property some digging has been done to the embankment bordering the parking lot. A combination of PVC and black colored piping could be seen being installed in the resultant hole. This is most likely a part of a sprinkler system that will water future landscaping.

Heading back to the front of the building, small sections of the parking lot and walkway at the former location of the old grocery entrance have been dug up.

Going inside one will find that Delicious to Go is still not open. However the lights are on. Also the Purple Cow ice cream cooler has received a coat of electro static paint to match it with neighboring black colored cases . I believe the Purple Cow cooler will eventually have a large graphic applied to its front to draw attention to it.

Next the drop ceiling behind the breads is almost done. Along with that the new drywall work in the meat dept has received its first coat of plaster while new floor tile now covers the entire meat dept. area. This new tile work now extends all the way to the dairy coolers.

Meanwhile aisles 4-6 have been striped of old floor tiles and are awaiting the installation of new tiles.

Heading to the Meat and Seafood counters one will find the lobster tank filled with water. However lobsters are still absence.

Wrapping things up is the installation of the third and last row of new coolers in the frozen food aisles. Also the second row of coolers, finished last week are now fully stocked.

Of note: The large order self checkout lanes have been a little buggy today. Mostly it was "Unexpected Item on the Belt" errors occurring for no reason. My guess is that machine's sensors are malfunctioning. Or more likely there may be a glitch in the software that runs the machines since customers in other lanes including the U-scanners were encountering problems. I would suggest using a regular cashier operate checkout lane for at least a couple of days to a week to give enough time for the bugs to be fixed.

Now for some Picture:

Blue flashing installed on the north side's furring strips. The blue flashing will be a part of the blue colored ascent band that will divide the upper and lower halves of the front facade. Also this blue band will wrap around the entry canopies.

Scaffolding in front of the new sign. This will allow workers to install finish surfaces on the sign.

Two workers assembling the scaffolding

[pcdoctor]

It's not just the large self checkout lanes that are having the problems. It's even the small express self checkout lanes too that are buggy as well. This has been an ongoing problem for the last 2 weeks now. It was mainly errors that we've encountered.

[jbr12]

Huh, thats weird. We go there at least 4 times a week and ALWAYS use the self check outs instead of the regular ones and the only problems I've had are user error problems. We were just there tonight and spent $150 in groceries, used the large self checkout without the least bit of trouble...

[tamias6]

Sounds like the glitches have been fixed.

Huh, thats weird. We go there at least 4 times a week and ALWAYS use the self check outs instead of the regular ones and the only problems I've had are user error problems. We were just there tonight and spent $150 in groceries, used the large self checkout without the least bit of trouble...

[wolverine]

I dunno, I was always kind of a fan of the Mezzanine windows. It was definitely a Meijer thing, and I think I'll miss it if they are phasing that out of all of their designs.

[tamias6]

The Jenison Meijer off of Chicago Dr. still features its Mezzanine Windows despite its renovation to the new format. In fact, other then an addition to the east side of the building, new garden center, and a realignment of the grocery entry, it still pretty much looks as it did before its renovation. It even still features its old signege.

I dunno, I was always kind of a fan of the Mezzanine windows. It was definitely a Meijer thing, and I think I'll miss it if they are phasing that out of all of their designs.

[pcdoctor]

Doc's Update:

Outside where the new sign is going to be on the building, that spot was covered in some white looking stuff. Over by the area where the exhisting grocery entrance was once at, looks like they paved/cemented overthere.

Inside: Enter through the new grocery entrance and you will notice that the walls have been painted an ugly green color now. And where the restrooms are, the restroom sign is up on the wall. There are still spots that need to be worked on yet, but for the most part, construction of the grocery entrance not including the cart storage room is completed. The cart storage room itself has received the green paint as well. They still have yet to lay floor tile in the storage room.

Delicious to Go is now open for business. The ice cream case was also stocked of some ice cream as well. It didn't seem like it offered much to eat though, but they probabily just opened either yesterday or today.

Also there's new flooring down as well in the entire produce department as well including up in the front by delicious to go and deli. Construction in the produce area is about 85% completed. They are still working on the HVAC system yet.

The biggest construction site was where the new meat coolers were at and the other coolers that were brought into the store last week. The center island middle cooler was in the process of being installed, and construction workers were also working on the ceiling up above as well. The north wall by the meat coolers was in the process of being mudded in as well.

New Flooring work on the back grocery concourse going all the way to dairy is now completed. Aisles 4 and 5 had it's new flooring installed, Aisle 6 did not have it's flooring stripped yet, I think Aisle 7 had it's floor stripped, and Aisles 8 and 9 had new flooring installed. However, one would notice that no floor work occured underneath the shelves.

The third frozen foods cooler was installed and powered up. Soon it will be receiving it's stock. And if one looks up on the ceiling at the new Aisle signs, you will notice that some of them are in spanish as well to help those non english speakers.

To wrap things up in the grocery section, there was a new end cooler that was recently installed and powered up by the frozen foods section. Also temporary lunch meat coolers that were in Aisle 1 were removed. I'm not sure of whether lunch meats are in their permanent location or if they moved them elsewhere for the time being so that they could get that other cooler up and running soon. You will also notice some HVAC units were recently installed in the grocery section too that look like ones in the retail section.

Up Front: the retail entrance was all covered up in plastic and workers working inside it. Wasn't sure of what they were doing. The new medical center sign is up. And what may supposedly be a vision center/starbucks coffee is still a big work in progress. One of the cashiers did say that vision center woudn't return, yet, there's a new starbucks coffee opening up by the Family Christian stores on Alpine. It will be where the shell station used to be at.

Well that about wraps things up. Overall, it's starting to look a little better than it has in the past. We did not use the self checkouts today so I can't say how those were.