DID YOU KNOW?
A Biography of
the Meijer Family
Submitted by Michael Joseph Lynch
Frederick (Fred) Meijer in his early years
This next biography is about a place where I do all my grocery shopping, and how they became such a great company over the years. Hendrick Meijer was born in 1883 in Hengelo, Netherlands. Son Frederick, also known as Fred, took over after Hendrik’s death on May 31st 1964, which was founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain by Hendrik, a Dutch immigrant with help from his wife, Gezina who he married in 1912, his son, Frederick, and daughter, Johanna.
Hendrik was a local barber who entered the grocery business during the Great Depression. In 1942 he opened his 2nd store, followed by 4 more stores in the 1950s. And by the early 1950’s totaling 14 stores with the help of his family, all located in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. His first employees included his 14-year-old son, Frederik Meijer born in 1919, who later became
chairman of the company as I mentioned in 1964. The current co-chairmen, brothers Hank and Doug Meijer are Hendrik's grandsons, who took over in 2011. Fred Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962.
Now, Meijer is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. You will also find that Meijer was among the first stores to offer self-service hand-held baskets in 1935, and eventually shopping carts in 1938 to help speed up service and progress throughout the store, which aided the growth of the company, plus Hendrik shopped for the lowest prices available at that time, because this was during the Great Depression.