Last updated on June 24th, 2024 at 09:57 pm
Known for grocery options like more than 600 varieties of farm-fresh produce, 150 USDA-certified organic items, and a deli and meat department, the new Meijer stores also offer pharmacies and general merchandise items. Additionally, they feature expansive baby and pet departments, apparel, beauty care, floral departments and garden centers.
Meijer opened its first store in Ohio in 1981. By the end of 2025, the retailer will have invested nearly half a billion dollars into the area by opening and remodeling nearly 20 stores, creating nearly 4,000 jobs and contributing to the missions of local nonprofits. Meijer employs more than 11,000 team members statewide at 55 stores and its distribution and manufacturing facilities in Tipp City.
“We’re thankful for the energy and enthusiasm from our team members, who have worked so hard to prepare these new stores for opening,” said Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes. “We’re honored to welcome customers through our doors in North Canton and Alliance, and we are excited to serve these wonderful communities.”
Meijer Alliance Store Director Patrick Hughes and North Canton Store Director Sheila Dowgiert and their teams welcomed customers into the stores with a round of applause, later followed by a ribbon-cutting events attended by Keyes.
Prior to opening the new stores, Meijer demonstrated its support of both communities by making $50,000 in donations to local organizations. In Alliance, Hughes and the store’s team members donated $12,500 to both Clothed in Righteousness to support unhoused neighbors with food, clothing and supplies, and Legacy of Honor to provide mental health and housing assistance to veterans and first responders.
In North Canton, Dowgiert and her team donated $15,000 to Local Hope, the Jackie Davison Foundation, to help local women struggling with cancer and other life-threatening medical challenges. In addition, the team donated $10,000 to Houston’s Lift Off to provide care baskets for families with children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Meijer donates at least 6 percent of its net profit to charitable organizations annually, and each of its stores works with local food banks and pantries to help fight hunger. Since 2008, the retailer’s Simply Give program has generated more than $86 million for its food pantry partners throughout the Midwest. The Alliance store chose Alliance Community Pantry as its first Simply Give pantry partner and the North Canton store chose North Canton Cares Pantry
Continuing the retailer’s ongoing efforts to ensure accessibility for all customers, the stores feature new larger, height-adjustable changing tables in the family restrooms for the added convenience and dignity of customers with disabilities and their caregivers. As in all Meijer stores, the Alliance and North Canton stores also offer free access to Aira, an app-based service that provides live navigation assistance to blind and low-vision customers using the camera of their smartphones.
About Meijer
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Meijer is a privately owned, family-operated retailer that serves customers at more than 500 supercenters, grocery stores, neighborhood markets and express locations throughout the Midwest and has more than 70,000 employees. Meijer is consistently recognized as a Great Place to Work and annually donates at least 6 percent of its profit to strengthen its communities.
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