Meijer Celebrates 90 Years
With the U.S. in the midst of a depression and seven years before the nation’s involvement in World War II, a local barber in Greenville, Mich., took a chance and opened a new grocery store in his hometown.
Hendrik Meijer opened Meijer’s Grocery with the support of his wife, Gezina, and children, 18-year-old Johanna and 14-year-old Fred, the latter two who cared for customers at the barbershop.
Today, Meijer is a fixture in the midwest of the U.S. and celebrating its 90th anniversary. The company has more than 500 Meijer supercenters, grocery stores, neighborhood markets, express locations, and distribution and manufacturing facilities throughout six Midwest states operated by more than 70,000 team members.
"We have built an incredible team here at Meijer that is accomplishing great things and enjoys working together, and they are the reason we've been able to evolve and grow over 90 years from a little grocery store to a new concept in retailing to an agile company with multiple formats," said Hank Meijer, Meijer’s executive chairman. "We continue to look at how we can better serve customers in multiple ways to ensure our first 90 years is just our first chapter."
Throughout the retailer’s history, company officials said the focus on providing a quality shopping experience, low prices, and innovation has remained. Innovations have included introducing shopping carts, automatic doors, conveyor belts, supercenters, self-checkout lanes, mPerks, curbside pickup, home delivery, and Shop & Scan.
"Fred Meijer often said that customers don't need us, we need them, so that focus on earning our customers' business every day has been central to how we've operated," said Rick Keyes, Meijer president & CEO. "We are constantly evaluating how we can further elevate the experience our customers have when they shop with us, and innovation paired with great prices and excellent customer service will be how we continue to earn customers' business."
Company officials said Meijer has long promoted its culture of dignity and respect that has included providing employees various benefits. The retailer also invests in the success of its team members, offering career advancement opportunities, free college education, paid parental leave, child care discounts, access to multiple health insurance options, and the option for 401(k) retirement contributions.
As a result of these efforts, Meijer was recently recognized as a Great Place to Work for the sixth consecutive year. The Great Place to Work certification recognizes employers for creating outstanding employee experiences based on responses to The Trust Index Survey, an organization-wide assessment of culture. This survey measures employee feedback across organizational culture, credibility, fairness, respect, camaraderie, and pride.
Meijer has also supported the communities it services by consistently donated at least 6% of its annual profit to nonprofit organizations throughout the Midwest. This continued effort has positively impacted millions of the retailer's neighbors.
Supporting hunger relief organizations is a critical part of the company's community engagement – specifically, its Simply Give hunger relief program. Since its inception in November 2008, the Simply Give program has generated more than $90 million in donations to food pantries thanks to the generosity of Meijer customers and team members.
"My family never wanted Meijer to just be another business," Hank Meijer reinforced. "We've always wanted to be a force for good by helping our communities address their most pressing needs, and we will continue to do that for the next 90 years.”
