Meijer coming to Richmond Heights

Sep. 16—This week officials from Meijer met with Richmond Heights City Council to finalize plans to build a new supercenter at the southeast corner of Richmond and Wilson Mills roads.

Frank J. Guglielmi, the senior director and corporate communications aide at Meijer, said that they are still in the planning stages of building the store and have many more factors that they need to finalize before they announce an opening date.

The earliest the store would be operational would be 2025, he said.

"We've been growing steadily in Northeast Ohio, and our store communities have welcomed us very warmly," Guglielmi said. "We have more than 250 stores in six states, and we have a very broad customer base. We pride ourselves on being a good fit in any community we serve."

The supercenter will be approximately 150,000 square feet like all Meijer stores, and Guglielmi said that the new store will feature a variety of services and products that they hope will enrich the city.

"Our stores are supercenters and have more than 400,000 stock keeping units," Guglielmi said. "We pride ourselves on our fresh offerings, but we also have expansive pet departments and a variety of general merchandise."

In addition to their SKUs, Guglielmi said Meijer's pharmacy offers a variety of services that can help keep the community healthy.

"Our pharmacy teams played an important role during the pandemic, administering millions of vaccine doses and being recognized as a federal retail pharmacy partner during the COVID vaccine rollout," he said. "All our stores also have grocery pickup. Customers can order online, stop at the store and we bring your groceries to your car. We also offer home delivery.

"Our digital business has grown rapidly over the last few years, so customers have multiple ways to shop."

Guglielmi said the company prides itself on being a strong community partner and hopes that with its new store they will be able to bring their charitable programs to the attention of their customers.

"Our goal is to enrich lives in the communities we serve and that includes donating more than six percent of our net profit each year to local and regional philanthropic organizations," he said. "Two of our main programs are "Simply Give," which supports food pantries in our local communities, and our "Meijer Team Gives" program, where our team members at each store choose a local charitable organization to support."

Guglielmi said that once construction begins it typically takes 12 to 14 months to build a new store.