Meijer to replace 28th/Kalamazoo Ave store

[einsteinrig]

If this happens, it wouldn't be the first time that Meijer has built a LEED-certified store:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories....9324&EDATE=

In April 2009, Meijer announced that all of its new stores would be LEED-compliant:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090.../904279991/1122

As a LEED guy, I would note that LEED "compliant" does not mean LEED "certified." It's easy to say a project is LEED compliant. I'm always in favor of, you know, proving it.

[suydam]

In April 2009, Meijer announced that all of its new stores would be LEED-compliant:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090.../904279991/1122

As a LEED guy, I would note that LEED "compliant" does not mean LEED "certified." It's easy to say a project is LEED compliant. I'm always in favor of, you know, proving it.

It seems like a small cost, but maybe they don't feel like paying to get the certification.

LEED compliant would mean "We want to be green, but don't need to pay you to tell us we are." It might also mean "We don't agree with all your certification items but wish to be generally green."

Who knows.

[organsnyder]

It seems like a small cost, but maybe they don't feel like paying to get the certification.

LEED compliant would mean "We want to be green, but don't need to pay you to tell us we are." It might also mean "We don't agree with all your certification items but wish to be generally green."

My (cynical) take on it is: "We will use green practices when they make sense (i.e. when they'll save us money in energy use reduction, etc. and are smart business moves regardless of the environmental impact) and then we can trumpet our 'green cred' as well."

From the way I understand their pronouncements, the buildings have features that are found in LEED-certified buildings, but the buildings themselves are not LEED-compliant. That's like saying that my old drafty house is LEED-certified because I've replaced the light bulbs.

[Nitro]

That's like saying that my old drafty house is LEED-certified because I've replaced the light bulbs.

Right on the nose!

[mejane]

Per a condition of the sale of the property, Habitat For Humanity was on the site and in the house on Monday removing anything

usable for resale at their store. One project foreman, many volunteers - great organization. Bulldozer in the back yard, demo very soon.

[organsnyder]

The house is now gone. They've also rearranged the inside of the store quite a bit - the back part that used to house auto parts, tools, paint, etc. is now closed off, and they're putting in loading docks there. They're moving extremely fast.

Does anyone know what came out of the City Commission meeting on Tuesday? From what I heard, the decision about the Brownfield credit will be made on the 21st. Is there anything else interesting to note?

[pcdoctor]

Driving by today and they have started to build the new Meijer store. It will be built behind the exhisting Meijer store. I'm wondering how they got the OK to build even with the major gas leak that they had years back? If anyone knows anything about how the new meijer store will be laid out, please feel free to post.

[Veloise]

... here's the e-packet.

http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/download_...d59d19b42ae.pdf

Charts, graphs, letters, comments, minutes, discussion...start at page 114.

...

[pcdoctor]

Anyone been over to that meijer store lately? Jus wanting to get an update since I'm unable to get over that way. Anything of interest happening inside the old store? When do they anticipate that the new meijer will open?

[Veloise]

Here you go (taken March 27). Coming in from the traffic light entrance on Kalamazoo

The western store entrance was closed up sometime last year, and the check-outs near it were removed. Pretty interesting inside: it's a small-format store with basics and essentials. No miles of aisles for seasonal or frou-frou. Several areas received new walls to help condense things (the area where produce was, for instance, which went away so that the new construction could happen).

I don't get there often but when I do, the progress is impressive. As you can tell, it won't be long.

[fotoman311]

Anyone been over to that meijer store lately? Jus wanting to get an update since I'm unable to get over that way. Anything of interest happening inside the old store? When do they anticipate that the new meijer will open?

We drove by just last night, and at this point the exterior still looks exactly like the photos that Veloise posted.

[Veloise]

New: a festive and stylish string of pennants (think used car lot) atop the new facade facing towards the gas station. (Which is closed, to get new pumps.)

[organsnyder]

They're making good progress at putting up brick on a smaller piece that juts out from the east side of the building. I think I'm going to like that exterior surface more than I thought I would from the plans they submitted to the Planning Commission.

We live in Alger Heights, so that Meijer is our main grocery store. I like the smaller format - the convenience reminds me of what I liked about Alger Heights Foods (despite the bad lighting and inconsistent stocking - precursors to its demise). It's easier to find things now, though finding certain items can still be an adventure - my wife and I joke about the location of the Velveeta cheese, which even before construction was hard to find (it's on an end-cap near the rotisserie chicken); a couple of weeks ago we were looking for caramel to put on ice cream, and couldn't find it, leading us to say, as usual, "it's probably next to the Velveeta" - lo and behold, we found it on the same end-cap.

[Veloise]

Last week's paper had an ad for redshirts. No grand opening date provided, but evidently it'll be soon.

Pics from May 3:

I like this a lot: there is a tall chicken-wire fence with screening along the south property line. Behind that is landscaping getting established, and then the sound-proofed wall. When they wrap up, they'll remove the fence, and then the neighbors will see the wall and the trees.

[Timize]

Good news: Meijer is looking to add about 90 jobs for the new store.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=121713&catid=14

[organsnyder]

They're in the final stretch - the old store is no longer open 24 hours - new hours are 7am-11pm. They're also having a store-wide liquidation sale (discount wasn't great when I was there on Saturday - 15% off). The new store looks finished and at least partially stocked.

The strange thing is, I keep hearing August as the opening date - will it really take them two months at this point? I'm far from an expert in retail, but that seems like ages in this hyper-competitive industry.

I'm also wondering how they'll dismantle the old building while the new one is open, given that the entrances to the new store are very close to the old store. A couple of possibilities I can think of are continuing to have limited hours and demo'ing that corner of the building at night, building a temporary canopy, and/or being very careful.

[wmrharris]

They're in the final stretch - the old store is no longer open 24 hours - new hours are 7am-11pm. They're also having a store-wide liquidation sale (discount wasn't great when I was there on Saturday - 15% off). The new store looks finished and at least partially stocked.

The strange thing is, I keep hearing August as the opening date - will it really take them two months at this point? I'm far from an expert in retail, but that seems like ages in this hyper-competitive industry.

I'm also wondering how they'll dismantle the old building while the new one is open, given that the entrances to the new store are very close to the old store. A couple of possibilities I can think of are continuing to have limited hours and demo'ing that corner of the building at night, building a temporary canopy, and/or being very careful.

=====

I note that the NW corner is already emptied. This makes sense. The building was built in two sections: the original grocery store, defined buy the arched roof (and man, I do love that retro retail look), and then a larger big box/discount style format to the west. The arch would seem to be the more difficult to demolish, although the discount unit has an especially thick floor -- old Fred was planning to have a fall-back for the space if it flopped (hah!).

The other difficulty will be that of regrading the lot. the NW corner dips down, the result of the store being built as it is, on the ridge. with the heavy floor/foundation, this probably will mean a bit of work.

Talking with store staff, they are expecting a start date of mid-August.

[Veloise]

... The new store looks finished and at least partially stocked.

...Talking with store staff, they are expecting a start date of mid-August.

If that's the case, they had better be merching out the new with holiday product. Maybe that's the intended grand opening-with-the-old-building-removed timeframe.

You could possibly drive a bulldozer through here.

[organsnyder]

You could possibly drive a bulldozer through here.

I'm wondering how they'll keep the entrance in the left of the photo open during construction - that looks awfully close. Perhaps they'll alternate which entrance is open with the corresponding demolition of the opposite side of the old building.

I should clarify my comment about the new store's stocking: it's based on what I've been able to see through the glass doors (mainly at night, when all of the lights are on) - I could be way off. Regardless, it seems strange that they'd be liquidating the old store's merchandise this far out; I agree with your hypothesis that the August date is the grand-opening celebration when the construction (including demo) is completely finished.

[organsnyder]

I think I found my answer about the proximity of the buildings:

From the 4-23-09 GR Planning Commission info packet:

Phase 2: May 2009-March 2010

...

Phase 2C - Demolition of SE store entry

...

New store opening with east entry at end of phase 2

Demolishing the SE entry will give the clearance needed for the east entry of the new store to be open while the old store is torn down. The area highlighted in the accompanying sketch is quite small - in addition to the entrance it looks like it'd only affect a couple of cash registers, lotto, and the shoe repair (not sure if that's even still there - I never go back there).

[Veloise]

Recon mission tonight. (One of my favorite words: "sale.")

New store: completely kitted out with fixtures, signage, lights, flooring, everything but something to buy and someone to sell it. Even the ceiling fans in the eyebrows were working. The east end (closest to Kalamazoo) will be grocery.

Also new: no more access from 28th Street. New entrances with pork chop islands being constructed facing Walgreen's. What are they using to keep motorists from trying to drive out that way? Parking stanchions, a cart corral, and some thin florescent tape. Looks like they'll be pouring concrete very soon, and I am guessing they'll add landscaped islands with trees in 'em.

The area highlighted in the accompanying sketch is quite small - in addition to the entrance it looks like it'd only affect a couple of cash registers, lotto, and the shoe repair...

All closed up. Customer restrooms are still open, but there's really no draw to that entrance now.

Now for the good stuff. The store continues to shrink, and if you look through the windows that were formerly the north-west entry, there's a curtain of plastic serving as a wall as they move shelving inwards.

Grocery is 10% off, and everything else is 15%. This is in addition to sale prices (on product carried at this unique Meijer experience). Yes, this location does not have the vast array of stuff that other Meijerses do. But it does have a lot of grocery basis, socks & underwear, HBA, condiments, pet foods, and other things you probably need that Fred's redshirts will otherwise have to pack up and move a few hundred feet.

I came home with cold cereal, soymilk, pumpkin pie, shampoo, cat food (sale price - 10%), frozen vegs, greeting cards (something's magic about Father's Day amongst my relatives), laundry detergent, and several bags of mixed nuts. Yes, I eat funny...this is all stuff I'd already buy. Savings Angel would sell a wing to get 10% off.

Oh, and there's a camera clearance section with digital storage media on sale. If that doesn't get you down there, nothing will!

[organsnyder]

It's almost over. The old store closes Wednesday. Everything is heavily discounted, including milk at 60% off (we just bought 1.5 gallons for $1.67 total). If you're looking for milk, baby formula, or pumpkin pie spice, you'll find it.

Peering into the new store, it's obviously fully stocked. There's even a rack of potted plants, priced at $2.99, outside the front door.

[pcdoctor]

The new store is officially open! They held a ribbon cutting ceremony at 7AM this morning.

[amylynne]

The new store is officially open! They held a ribbon cutting ceremony at 7AM this morning.

I was there around noon today. Obviously it's a huge improvement from the old store where you could barely fit two carts down an aisle. The layout is pretty interesting with grocery kind of weaving it's way around the other stuff. I think I left my map at work. I just stopped in to check it out and grab a few things, but I'll be back again some day to explore. That day will probably not come until the old store is gone and there's more parking. It was insane today. The parking lot is a mess, with off road cart pushing and weird dead ends and limited routes out.

[John E]

.

Wow, sure is a nice store. Spent a lot of time wondering the store filling up a grocery cart to help support Meijer's.

It sure is great living in Grand Rapids and West Michigan!

~John

.