Meijer quality offerings coming to Oak Creek
The Meijer store currently under construction in the Drexel Town Square (DTS) represents the family owned, privately held company’s entry into Wisconsin. “We’re excited to be able to serve customers in Oak Creek and the area,” said Frank J. Guglielmi, senior director – communications.
Meijer (MY-er), headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., has been serving customers for 80 years. With strong Midwestern values, the stores are known for offering the finest in fresh foods – meat, produce, deli and baked goods – along with general merchandise and a pharmacy.
General merchandise includes everything from electronics to toys, clothing, a garden center and more.
In addition to prescription fulfillment, Meijer’s pharmacy services include immunizations and glucose testing. Certified diabetes specialists are on staff as well. “Our pharmacies are a destination because of our extensive services,” Guglielmi said.
The store’s large footprint – 190,000 square feet – requires a spacious building site. Drexel Town Square offered the ideal location for the store.
The store will occupy 17 acres on the east end of the 85-acre DTS site along Howell Avenue. The site also will include a Meijer gas station and 2,500-square-foot convenience store.
The Oak Creek store will open in the summer of 2015 and will serve customers 364 days a year, 24/7, closing only on Christmas day.
“The Milwaukee area is similar to Grand Rapids. When we visited the Oak Creek site it felt like home,” Guglielmi said.
With 213 stores in five states (Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio), Meijer Inc. is pursuing an aggressive growth plan which includes Wisconsin, according to Hank Meijer, co-CEO. “We expect to concentrate a lot of our expansion the next few years in Wisconsin,” Meijer told an audience of Milwaukee business leaders when he was keynote speaker in March 2014 at the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Power Breakfast.
Meijer opened 9 new stores in 2014 and remodeled five existing stores.
In 2015, in addition to the Oak Creek store, Meijer will open stores in Kenosha, Wauwatosa and Grafton. Each store is expected to provide 250 to 300 jobs. Meijer Inc. also operates a distribution center in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., in Kenosha County to serve its stores in Illinois and Wisconsin.
“Our key to success is that our offerings attract a broad spectrum of retail and grocery shoppers. We serve all customers …from the bargain shopper to someone looking for expensive wine,” he said.
Meijer Inc. demonstrates its commitment to the communities where its stores are located through sponsorships and philanthropic partnerships. Local food pantries regularly benefit from the generosity of the company which donates more than six percent of its net profits annually. “Our philanthropic outreach is part of our brand identity,” Guglielmi said. In addition to financial support of food pantries, the company has also donated trucks to charitable food distribution organizations.
In January 2014, Meijer donated two semi-trucks and 132,510 pounds of food to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
Visit Meijer.com to learn more about this retailer coming to DTS.
“An 85-acre site is very large to develop,” said Jerry Franke, president – WISPARK LLC, the real estate development subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corp. WISPARK purchased the site in August 2011. “The early announcement by Meijer allowed us to create a ‘hybrid’ development featuring a combination of contemporary suburban commercial development and neo-urban, town center development.
“The site was too large to accommodate only the neo-urban style. The tax increment, jobs and traffic generated by Meijer has had a positive impact on our ability to attract other development to the site. We expect more announcements to be made over the next three months,” Franke said.