Meijer Article

Meijer By Scott Bolohan Jul 10, 2007, 11:57

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Meijer:
Shop 'til You Drop

As the only major shopping center open 24 hours a day, Meijer has long been the one-stop shop for late night Jell-O, recliners and hermit crabs.

However, with this type of selection come drawbacks. For whatever reason, Meijer, more than any other supermarket, seems to carry around the reputation of being the home to creepy people roaming the aisles late into the night. When I went to the store on Coolidge and Maple, what I found was both surprising and distinctly Meijer.

The store was empty for the most part, with only two of the 28 checkout lanes open. However, there was quite a steady flow of customers in these, along with those newfangled self-checkout lanes. People were buying mostly food, from a couple of snacks to the customers who seemed like they forgot they were getting married tomorrow and had to buy food for everyone they know. Chips, beer and ice cream were popular, but people were just as likely to have something totally random. I talked with a guy who just had to get a Blu-Ray DVD at 2 in the morning (which they didn’t have). The animals (in the pet department) were mostly up, too. The gerbils were running around in their wheels while the birds squawked. In the sports department, two girls were playing soccer. However, most of the activity was going down over in the food section.

Back in the front of the store, I talked with Marcel Davis in customer service. He has worked everything from the cash register to being the greeter late night the last four years to pay for school at Wayne State. His shift is usually from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. and he sleeps about four to eight hours if he can. He said it’s busiest until around 2:30 a.m., and then picks back up at 6. “It’s OK right now,” Davis said of the night gig, “I’d kind of like to find a day job in my major.” He said a lot of the people who stop by work at night, such as people from nearby Beaumont Hospital. Davis said that people buy just about everything late at night, in particular people barbequing the next day seem to stop by late to pick up food.

I saw Liz Reid picking up random items like flashlights and dishes. “My kid is going to camp tomorrow and I just read the list of what he has to bring,” Reid said. “Sometimes I come here late because it’s just not crowded.”

I talked with Reid about the perceived reputation of Meijer at night, and she had her own story to tell about one late night stop. “I was here late one night, and there was a woman who wanted to read my fortune. It was around midnight and she was asking for money after she read it. Meijer has got a lot of different people; it has its own feel to it.” | RDW

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Meijer Late-Night Customer Types

Guy With A Pony Tail: You’re pretty much guaranteed to see one of these guys. In fact, the only times they may leave the house are for Meijer and NASCAR races.

Meat Guy: There’s always someone who is buying an uncomfortable amount of salami.

Video Game Demo Guy: This guy apparently doesn’t have a video game system but takes no shame in playing the free demos late into the night. He has a gaming addiction without owning a game.

Teens: This group thinks they run the store. From playing basketball on the six-foot hoops to tapping on the fish tank glass, these kids apparently don’t have anything better to do. Whatever happened to underage drinking and narcotics?