A Review of the New Meijer -- Kind of

Meijer, after owning the land at Philo and Windsor for like a decade, finally built a store in Urbana. When they announced their intentions to build I hooted because before the Schnuck's came to Savoy MacTroll and I did all of our grocery shopping at the Meijer on North Prospect. The deli ladies there slipped all the toddlers free lunch meat and cheese. Plus, the place had been around since MacTroll was in college, so it felt -- familiar.

But then they built the Savoy Schnuck's, and we took to that instantly. It's a smaller store than the other stores in Urbana and Champaign, but I love that I can run in and out on my way to the gym or X-man's school. It's highly convenient. I can ride my bike and put the items in my kid trailer and pedal home. We love their produce and baked goods and the deli and meat counters are decent. Sure, the meat is no match for Olde Time Meat and Deli Shoppe, but that's okay. It's right down the street and easy to add into the errand run. We also loved that the Schnuck's Organic Milk by Full Circle was way cheaper than the national brands, and we didn't have to buy the Oberweis (which belongs to the crazy right-wing, Chicago-area politician. Sure, he treats his cows nice, but boy I'm pretty sure he'd hate me.).

In 2005, MacTroll and I decided to avoid Wal-mart. Their giant economic plan to take over the world—environment, employees and communities-be-damned attitude freaks me out. Then, this summer, the price of food started going through the roof at the same time as gas and after 3 years of avoiding doing any regular shopping there we went back for anything that came pre-wrapped in a box (like Cheerios or soda, etc.). In essence, I sold out. Go ahead and bitch at me.

So it was with great excitement when they put a Meijer in south Urbana. I went last Thursday when I left my mental faculties at home and my purse in a shopping cart in the cart return. Today I went back to amend some things I purchased that didn't work out. 

The customer service staff was very helpful and thankful that I was an easy customer. That is, I brought things back unused, unopened AND with a receipt. I was in a hurry when I was there on Thursday so I paid attention to very little besides the overfriendliness of the staff. This time I focused on something important -- the prices of things I always buy.

At Schnuck's the cheapest apple juice is Old Orchard at $1.49. It's even cheaper than the Schnuck's generic. At Wal-mart, since I'm avoiding thing with the Wal-mart name on it after biting into a piece of wood in a package of Wal-mart branded ground beef 3 years ago, the cheapest brand is Indian Summer for $1.79. Both juices are well over $2 at the new Meijer. 

And this wasn't my only finding. Morningstar Veggie Sausage 20 cents more at the new Meijer than at Schnuck's, 30 cents more at Meijer than at Wal-mart. Sigh. 

My cats like Scoop Away, a cheap litter. I have no brand loyalty when it comes to litter. But my five cats do. I've tried a series of brands cheap through mega expensive and more eco-friendly. And damn it, I'd really rather they use their boxes. So Scoop Away it is. It tracks like hell, but it clumps pretty decent. Meijer used to carry it, but then they released their own Meijer brand of cheap cat litter and stopped carrying it. So there's a problem.

Yogurt was the same price at Meijer as it is at Wal-mart as it is at Schnuck's. Fruit and vegetables were the same at Schnuck's and Meijer and well, I hate how unfresh the produce is at our Wal-mart, even in the summer when it's surrounded by farms, so I never by it there. 

Meijer does carry Canadian Great Lake Perch. It's a childhood favorite. One that X-man liked when he was 18 months, that for some reason didn't carry into last Friday, but since he was sick and I made it (strangely for lunch) I'll have to try it again. 

I checked out and the woman I had was not actually filling the stupid plastic bags. She kept putting one can of soup in a bag and then turning the wheel to a new one. So I'd grab the individual items and toss them in with other items. She was also checking out my canned cat food and smiled at me and said, "Isn't it crazy how we spoil our pets?" I furrowed my eyebrows and said, "I don't think feeding them is spoiling them." I didn't mean to sound bitchy, but it was a weird thing to say.

I like that at Schnuck's I can get paper or plastic or use my nylon bags. Why do I get all three? Because I need them. I put my cat litter and scoop my dog poop into the plastic ones. I use the paper ones to put my recycling and my garbage in in the kitchen. And I don't always need more, so I use my nylon bags when we're in good shape. 

In all fairness, the new Meijer is a clean store. It's a new store. It's a friendly store. It's a south of town alternative to the big bad boy that is Wal-mart. I'm glad it's there. But when you read all the cart signs in the parking lot that guarantee that their prices are lower so it improves your life... that's not ultimately true for my family. But it might be for yours, so check it out.

However, the Savoy Schnuck's is still going to be my favorite and most used grocery store. It's my neighborhood store, so I have big loyalty there. 

And I'm a Target fan, so I'm more than happy to go to North Prospect to shop there for my non-grocery items.