for persons with the surname see meijer surname . for other uses see meijer disambiguation . meijer inc. type private industry retail grocery & discount founded greenville michigan 1934 founder hendrik meijer headquarters walker michigan u.s. grand rapids michigan mailing address number of locations stores 224 gas stations 195 c stops 2 car washes 2 distribution facility complexes 6 manufacturing facilities 6 area served michigan indiana illinois ohio kentucky wisconsin 1 key people frederik meijer former chairman emeritus hank meijer co ceo co chair doug meijer co chair rick keyes president 2 products groceries clothing footwear gasoline sporting clothing bedding furniture jewelry health and beauty products toys sporting equipment electronics housewares and pet supplies revenue us 15.8 b 2015 number of employees 72 200 website www.meijer.com meijer inc. ma . r is a regional american supercenter chain with its corporate headquarters in walker michigan in the grand rapids metropolitan area . 3 4 founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962 . about half of the company s 200 stores are located in michigan s lower peninsula with additional locations in illinois indiana ohio wisconsin and kentucky . meijer has no affiliation with fred meyer . the chain was ranked no. 19 on forbes 2015 list of america s largest private companies 5 and 19 in fortune s 2008 the 35 largest u.s. private companies . 6 in 2016 supermarket news ranked meijer no. 15 in the 2016 top 75 u.s. & canadian food retailers & wholesalers . 7 based on 2015 revenue meijer is the 26th largest retailer in the united states . 8 contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 other meijer concepts 3 marketing and sponsorship 3.1 notable donations and actions 4 meijer store design 5 hypermarket 6 controversies and criticism 6.1 acme township 6.2 treatment of lgbt community 6.3 firing of a christian employee 7 footnotes 8 references 9 external links history edit a meijer in midland michigan . this store has since been remodeled into a newer exterior design . meijer was founded as meijer s in greenville michigan by hendrik meijer a dutch immigrant . meijer was a local barber who entered the grocery business during the great depression . his first employees included his 14 year old son frederik meijer who later became chairman of the company . the current co chairmen brothers hank and doug meijer are hendrik s grandsons . after studying trends in the grocery industry meijer was among the first stores to offer self service shopping and shopping carts . he also offered staple items such as vinegar at bargain prices . 9 the greenville store went successfully and additional meijer groceries were opened in ionia and cedar springs . by the 1960s the company had over two dozen stores located throughout west michigan . in 1949 the first two meijer stores opened in grand rapids mi . in a contest a customer suggests the name thrifty for meijer s little dutch boy who becomes the corporate symbol for the next 30 years . in 1962 the modern format of meijer was started with a store at the corner of 28th street and kalamazoo avenue in grand rapids michigan . at a size of 180 000 square feet 17 000 m2 10 it combined grocery shopping and department store shopping in a single large store . the store was built with six inch 152 mm thick floors so should the concept fail the nongrocery half could be converted into an indoor car dealership . new stores were built in the same manner until the mid 1970s when an architect mentioned the extra cost to management . 9 the second such store opened in norton shores later that year followed by two more in 1964 one on alpine avenue in walker michigan and one on westnedge avenue in portage michigan . 11 this was followed by the first mid michigan location in delta charter township michigan in 1966 and the first metro detroit store in ypsilanti michigan in 1972 . the thrifty acres stores now under the leadership of fred meijer became a success and were renamed meijer in 1986 . meijer s stand alone grocery operations continued until the early 1990s as the larger stores became dominant . in 1985 forbes magazine reported wal mart at the time had failed in what were then known as hypermarkets because sam walton and company did not understand the grocery business . walton launched the first hypermart usa store in 1987 opening only four stores the last in 1990 . an article in forbes magazine said meijer understood the importance of the food business and it was not something just tacked onto a discount store . the quality of the produce is very important ; poor quality produce sold by wal mart was the main reason for their lack of success . by contrast surveys said then and now that meijer ranks high on produce quality . 12 meijer s former logo used from 1983 to july 11 2004 with the increasing dominance of wal mart throughout the country during the 1990s and up to the present meijer is facing the effects of an intensely competitive retail industry . in late 2003 the company laid off 350 people from the corporate offices distribution centers and field offices ; a few months later in january 2004 meijer laid off 1 896 employees and managerial staff 13 leading to speculation that the company was losing profitability and market share . a marketing professor dr. ben rudolph of grand valley state university near meijer s corporate headquarters lambasted this move saying they apparently blinked and that meijer s decision was driven by panic . 14 continuing cutbacks in 2006 the company outsourced 81 information technology positions to india . 15 in 2003 the company announced that all new meijer stores would feature an entirely new format and company image complete with a new logo intended to make the meijer stores seem friendly and inviting . the company hired new york city s rockwell group to redesign the existing stores and establish a design for new stores . the new theatrics for the then 71 year old company originally started as a new product introduction program until david rockwell talked hank and fred meijer into further changes . rockwell told the meijers the new introduction program would work only if it was part of a new overall creative foundation based on a fresher younger approach encompassing architecture interior design and graphic design . 16 despite recent cutbacks meijer has been embarking on a new expansion plan that will increase its number of stores in illinois michigan and ohio . in april 2003 meijer selected devito verdi an award winning advertising agency in new york to handle its 25 million account . 17 in may 2007 the first leed certified meijer store opened in the second phase of the fairlane green development in allen park michigan . in july 2007 meijer announced to the michigan press it would be restructuring its team leader management positions in all 181 stores stating layoffs would be minimal and necessary to handle more sophisticated products such as flat screen tvs and high priced wines . their spokesperson also said the changes were not about a labor reduction but fitting people into the right roles . no corporate staff or hourly workers were directly affected . 18 in august 2007 the store announced they were cutting about 500 managers 12 % of existing management staff . the 500 were given severance packages while other managers were transferred to other stores or reassigned to different positions . a meijer spokesperson stated the cuts were made as meijer tries to compete with the world s largest corporation wal mart . 19 20 on november 25 2011 frederik meijer died at 91 years of age . in 2013 meijer opened its 200th supercenter in swartz creek michigan . operations edit meijer stores are classified as supercenters or hypermarkets a superstore that combines groceries and department store goods in the same store . many stores also feature a meijer branded gas station and convenience store in front . several meijer locations feature alternative fuels such as e85 biodiesel and compressed natural gas . most meijer stores are open 24 hours a day 364 days a year closing only at 7 p.m. on christmas eve and reopening at 6 a.m. on december 26 . in 2013 meijer ranked no. 19 in forbes list of top 20 private companies . in september 2012 meijer was ranked no. 88 in a list of the 100 fastest growing retail chains by the national retail foundation s stores magazine . other meijer concepts edit interior of a meijer in southgate michigan which opened in 1994 in addition to the original meijer supermarkets and hypermarkets meijer opened several concept stores in the 1970s and 1980s . the first were specialty clothing store chains called copper rivet sagebrush and tansy . each store focused on a different form of brand name clothing copper rivet sold levi s jeans sagebrush sold casual wear and tansy sold women s clothing . all three chains usually operated in front of existing meijer stores or in nearby shopping centers . these clothing chains were dissolved in the 1980s as brand name clothing became more readily available at competing retailers . sagebrush which at its peak comprised 71 stores 21 was sold off in 1988 while copper rivet and tansy stores were closed as their leases expired . 22 in 1980 meijer began a discount pharmacy chain called spaar from the dutch word for save which opened four stores in 1980 in former meijer supermarket locations . the spaar stores were sold to pontiac michigan based perry drug stores by the mid 1980s . 22 one year after launching the spaar brand in 1981 meijer began opening meijer square stores which were traditional discount department stores lacking a full grocery section . this concept also brought meijer to ohio for the first time where several twin fair inc. stores were converted to the meijer square concept . 22 the ohio locations were largely sold to zayre and hills but some meijer square stores in michigan remained open into the 1990s . meijer returned to cincinnati ohio in may 1996 after both hills and ames had closed all of their ohio stores . 23 meijer opened its first warehouse club store sourceclub in 1992 . the concept proved unsuccessful in competition against sam s club and costco and all seven sourceclub stores were closed in 1994 . the location in fraser michigan was converted to a regular meijer store while the rest were shuttered or sold off . 22 the last remaining former sourceclub store that never reopened since its closure located in taylor michigan was eventually demolished for a condominium development . another former sourceclub in westland michigan was demolished and a lowe s opened there . during the mid 1990s meijer expanded to three additional states . the first location in indiana opened on grape road in mishawaka in 1994 followed by the first illinois store in champaign in 1995 and the first kentucky location in florence in 1996 . the first meijer location in the chicago region opened in 1999 on weber road in the suburb of bolingbrook . upon its expansion into chicago the chain announced a new concept called meijer marketplace comprising smaller stores that focus more on grocery items and pharmacy . 24 meijer has also turned several stores into flagship status stores where grocery selection is larger and also used to test new food products . meijer opened its first store within the city of detroit on july 25 2013 and its second location within the city on june 11 2015 . meijer opened its first locations in wisconsin in june 2015 . to help promote itself in wisconsin meijer placed an advertisement