In the midst of the Great Depression, a modest barber in Greenville, Mich. recognized a need and seized an opportunity to take care of his barbershop customers. Hendrik Meijer purchased $328.76 worth of merchandise on credit, and together, with his 14-year-old son, Fred, they opened Meijer’s Grocery.

The Depression had not ended yet, but Meijer acquired its first shopping carts – a new innovation for grocery stores.

The second Meijer store opened in Cedar Springs, Mich. under the management of Hendrik Meijer’s daughter, Johanna Meijer. By 1945, half of all Meijer team members were women.

Meijer continued to innovate for its customers by installing automated conveyer belts.

The birth of the supercenter. Meijer opened its first “Thrifty Acres” store that merged food and general merchandise into one convenient shopping trip that grew into a retail phenomenon.

Meijer opened its Grand Rapids, Mich.-area stores on Sunday, followed by all stores throughout its footprint to date in 1976.

Many Meijer stores transitioned to staying open 24-hour-a-day, 364-days-a-year.

Meijer entered the State of Indiana with the opening of the Grape Road store in Mishawaka.

The Champaign Meijer marked the retailer’s entrance into Illinois, and later entered the Chicago market in 1999 with the opening of the Bolingbrook store.

Meijer.com launched, and the retailer entered the State of Kentucky with its first store in Florence.

Meijer introduced two hunger relief programs to enrich lives in the communities it serves. Its Simply Give program feeds families by stocking the shelves of food pantries in the communities it serves, and its Food Rescue program donates close-dated food to local food banks to keep it from going to waste.

Meijer launched mPerks, its free digital coupon program to help savvy, deal-seeking consumers earn discounts without having to cut, print or present a coupon upon checkout.

Meijer celebrated its 50^th anniversary of the original supercenter and announced its move into dairy production through the new Purple Cow Creamery.

Meijer opened its 200^th store in Swartz Creek, Mich. and its first supercenter in the city of Detroit at Woodward Ave. and Eight Mile.

Meijer broke ground on a second store in Detroit at the site of the former Redford High School, and on a new dairy production facility in Tipp City, Ohio. Meijer held its inaugural Meijer LPGA Classic presented by Kraft at Blythefield Country Club that generated more than $600,000 for the Simply Give program.

Meijer entered its sixth state with the opening of four stores in Wisconsin. The Michigan Historical Commission recognized Meijer for making history on the site of its original “Thrifty Acres” store with a historical marker on the site of the nation’s first supercenter.

Meijer opened Bridge Street Market, its first neighborhood market, on Grand Rapids’ west side. By 2024, the retailer opened five neighborhood markets in Michigan and Ohio.

Meijer completed the rollout of Shop & Scan at all its stores, which allowed customers to shop and bas as they go, avoiding the checkout lines.

Meijer responded to the COVID-19 global pandemic by implementing numerous in-store health and safety precautionary measures, and began vaccination efforts.

Meijer Team Gives launched. It’s a program that empowers Meijer team members to identify local nonprofits meaningful to them for a special donation. As of November 2023, the program granted more than $10 million in surprise donations to nearly 500 nonprofits across the Midwest.

Meijer opened its first two Meijer Grocery stores in Lake Orion and Macomb Township, offering Metro Detroit customers a new way to shop.