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| This post will look at retail in Taylor, Wayne County, MI. |
Meijer #35
14640 Pardee Road, Taylor, MI
Driving distance and time from downtown Detroit: 16.9 miles, approx. 20 minutes
This Meijer store opened on July 19, 1977 as a Thrifty Acres store, the first in the Downriver area of Wayne County. It's trade area includes almost all of Taylor, far western Southgate, half of Romulus and far northern Brownstown and Huron Townships.
When it opened, it originally would have
looked like this, with a very 1970's interior, including a kids-based
"Oasis" section in the center of the store. Due to concerns for safety and responsibility, the "Oasis" would be removed by 1985. In 1991, this store had a major exterior and interior remodel, with the exterior repainted gray with a red band and
this logo over the entrances. Interior overhead signage was replaced with red-colored signs for the grocery and health & beauty departments, and green-teal for the rest of the store. An in-store McDonald's briefly operated inside this store in the late 1990's. This store had another major exterior and interior remodel in 2002, which saw newer signage installed in the general merchandise section, including teal signage in health & beauty, while a seasonal department was added. The gas station was also completely rebuilt. The exterior entrances were replaced with Dutch-styled gable roofs, and the exterior was repainted to brown-beige with the
Meijer Fresh logo. This version of this store can be seen in this low-quality 2007
Google Street View shot. Shortly after that shot, the exterior signage was swapped out for the new Meijer logo.
This store's latest remodel took place in 2013. Overall, the exterior and interior were changed to resemble new Meijer stores of the time, along with a relocated general merchandise entryway and a new garden center. The exterior was refreshed to resemble the "Eyebrow Type 1" exterior prototype, named for the "eyebrow" appearance of the glass towers at the entrances. "Type 1" refers to this entrance style, with a diagonal roof.
What was the interior decor used? Find out later...
The interior of the grocery entryway, termed "Fresh" by the exterior signage. The general merchandise entryway is termed "Home."
A map of the store's layout, attached to a price scanner pole in the grocery department. I am posting this to give you readers an idea of the locations of this store's departments.
Just inside the Fresh entrance, you will be greeted to your right by the produce department.
And along the adjacent wall are the deli and bakery counters, with the bulk food department beyond those. The signage style is part of a decor package officially termed by Meijer as "Century Gothic", and this store was one of the last to receive a remodel into this package (the last ground-up store to open with this decor was 269 in Danville, Illinois in November 2013).
The actionway separating the grocery department and the general merchandise area.
The in-store Huntington Bank branch, which was closed for the day when I took these photos. A recently-added Ben's Soft Pretzels is beyond. The front registers are on the right.
Further photos of the actionway separating the grocery department and the general merchandise area. The last several grocery aisles are placed in a bump-out, so they aren't all that visible.
Entering the back actionway, the first department we encounter is pets. This was where the pharmacy counter and health & beauty department were located prior to the 2013 remodel.
Photos of the back actionway from various locations.
The sporting goods department's hunting license desk.
The layout of the ceiling lighting strips is the only hint of this store's previous remodel. The 2013 remodel moved the vertical general merchandise actionway closer to the left wall in compliance with Meijer's current prototype. This actionway's former location was directly beneath where I was standing.
The Century Gothic decor's overhead directory signage is a direct carryover from Meijer's previous decor, Reinvention, which debuted in 2004 with the introduction of the new Meijer logo and was the first Meijer decor package to utilize Franklin Gothic, a font that has now long been associated with the company.
The electronics department's photo desk. Up until the rollout of Reinvention (or, in the case of this store, the 2013 remodel), product categories in Meijer's electronic department were sprawled out in various sections of the store. In fact, there was no single electronic department. Video games were in the toy department; VHSes, DVDs and CDs were in a section next to the health & beauty department; and audio/video gear, photo lab and video rental were all at the front.
Video game glass cases in the electronics department. Current Meijer remodels have done away with using glass doors for video game shelving.
The smaller actionway closer to the left wall.
Several photos of the vertical general merchandise actionway.
The seasonal department, which has been in this section of the store since it was added in the 2002 remodel.
A glimpse of the pharmacy counter from the health & beauty department. Prior to the 2013 remodel, this was the location of one of the split electronics departments I mentioned earlier, an in-store party store (a Michigan term for convenience stores) and the general merchandise entryway.
A closeup of the pharmacy counter.
As we return to the front of the store, this is the general merchandise entryway, which has been in that location since the 2013 remodel.
The Century Gothic decor's lane light style. This is also a carryover from Reinvention, only the numbers were red. This lane light style would be further carried over into the Brown decor (which was used from 2013 to 2015), and, of course, the lane numbers were brown in that decor.
Obviously damaged, but this sign dates back to the 1991 remodel, though it could instead be a product of the 2002 remodel.
The in-store nail salon.
The customer service desk. This alcove also features a lottery machine, beverage drinks and vacuum rental.
It's time to head back outside for a look at the drive-thru pharmacy window, which was added in the 2013 remodel.
This store's accompanying gas station, which was completely rebuilt in the 2002 remodel.
And there you have it - Taylor's Meijer store.
And that's all we have today. Until next time....
I hate to say but this store looks more like the tel twelve store that was supposed to be a super Kmart store (advertised on the side of the road along telegraph road, but came too late and also Mr lambert) but the entrance is a tall slant roof found at the Allen park store too, So doesn’t matter which meijer you shop at there’s no such thing that this location is better than that one or they don’t have the grocery items I’m looking for because it doesn’t sell here. I guess super Kmart problems were that the shoppers weren’t convinced on the quality of groceries.I know I had a ex coworker who told me she so called doubts of buying groceries from super Kmart,because they are a retail store NOT a grocery store,Well I told her I buy groceries from super Kmart and there’s nothing wrong. I even ask her does she shop at meijer and she said yes,I even told her if she expects super Kmart to look different like the grocery department hidden in the other end of the store, I told her she WRONG! When you go into super Kmart it’s set up reminds you of meijer even the produce aisle sits right in the front window of the store,so there is no difference of super Kmart. I even told her I know some big chain store is supplying Kmart with the grocery, but I thought it might be Kroger at first because all the store signage (used for advertising specials) had the cost cutters display,what Kroger used during the time of the fight they had with the union.
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