Hendrik and Gezina Meijer opened the original Greenville store in 1934. In the midst of the Great Depression, a modest local barber in Greenville, Mich. had a need and saw an opportunity. In an effort to take care of the customers who visited his barbershop, Hendrik Meijer purchased $328.76 worth of merchandise on credit. Together, with his 14-year-old son, Fred, they opened Meijer’s Grocery. The second Meijer store opens in Cedar Springs, Mich. under the management of Johanna Meijer. By 1945, half of all Meijer team members are women. Meijer opens its first “Thrifty Acres,” a food and general merchandise store that allowed customers to shop for everything they needed in just one trip. It was the birth of the supercenter and the springboard for a concept that would grow into a retail phenomenon.
I once read clearance sanders, the original owner of piggly wiggly, was credited with the supermarket concept in 1918 with many different departments/stores under one roof (grocery store)
and king kullen out of nyc was credited of the supermarket concept in the 1930's of advertising loss leaders, just to get customers in the stores
grocery stores have been the fabric of communities thru the last hundred years....
I once read in a store diary type book 15 yrs ago,,,how a butcher on his lunch break wrote a summary of "todays events" it was the bombing of pearl harbor, and how it was the talk of the store, he wrote " many of the women were sobbing, thinking their sons will be off to another war"
3 major factors for the modern day supermarket (in the 30's)
the car- larger stores were built outside of the mainstreets- cheaper land costs and with cars,,,easy to drive to them
the 40 hr work week- non seasonal pay - cash and carry became popular- replacing buying on credit and paying when the crops were harvested refrigeration-
clearance birdseye played a big part in store refrigeration/freezers development
-- Edited by Mainemeatman on Monday 28th of July 2014 05:59:48 PM
