Meijer Versus Kroger: A Battle for the Shoppers of the Midwest

If you live in Westland, Michigan, or at any of a number of states in the Midwest, you may very well have two main grocery shopping options: Meijer or Kroger. Having grown up around, and shopped at both of these retailers, I thought I would relay my opinions on the competing stores.

Meijer, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based hypermarket, is much more than a grocery store. It aims to be your one store for everything, having seemingly endless sections which include, house wares, lawn and garden, electronics, hardware, clothing, and more. While this is convenient for the vast majority of shopping outings, what you gain in generality, you lose in specificity.

Kroger, which has hypermarkets of its own, is known more for its traditional supermarkets. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kroger has tried to build its company on service, value, and selection. For purposes of this article, I will only be comparing the groceries of the two stores. Let's look at five main categories, in no particular order.

5) Selection. Are you just out to load up on the basics like milk, cheese, bread, etc? If so, both of these stores will suit your needs nicely. However, if you are looking for more than just the staples, Kroger will be more likely to have what you are looking for. Meijer seems to take its "jack-of-all-products-but-masters-of-none" thinking that it employs in the rest of its store and applies it to the grocery section. Granted, this will not be an issue the vast majority of time, as Meijer has a LOT of foods, but the odds are better that Kroger will have the unique items you may be looking for.

4) Service. While service encompasses many things, for the purpose of this article I am sticking mainly to ease of checkout. At first glance, Meijer would seem to win this one hands down. They have many more checkout lanes than Kroger and offer extensive self checkout lanes. If you're shopping for a few items and are not hitting the checkout lane with a full cart, Meijer is definitely the way to go. The self checkout lanes are generally quick, and the lines are short. However, if you are doing grocery shopping for a week or two and have a heavily laden cart, Kroger is actually your best bet. Meijer tends not to have as many checkout people working at any one given time, despite their advantage in number of checkout lanes. Lines can be long, perhaps due to the fact that you have to bag your own groceries. Kroger keeps its checkout lanes humming smoothly and seems to respond quicker to crowds forming in the checkout area.

3) Store-brand Products. Both Meijer and Kroger offer their own lines of many popular foods. If you're a brand-name buyer, this is not a consideration, but if you think store brands can save you some money without differing too much from the national brands, you should pay close attention to this. Meijer, overall, offers a wider selection of, and better prices on, their store brand products. As far as quality, Kroger edges Meijer out by just a bit. Take their sodas, for instance. Meijer and Kroger both offer a range of store-brand sodas meant to compete with the national brands. Meijer sodas are generally less expensive, but I personally enjoy the taste of the Kroger brand sodas a little more.

2) Intangibles. Are the bottle returns set in a convenient area? Does the store generally seem clean? Are the carts easy to push? These considerations and many others I am going to throw under the intangibles category. Both stores are always clean, and the shopping experience at both places is quite similar. This is somewhat a matter of taste, but here is my take in general: Kroger offers a bit more of an 'upscale' feel to its stores, making for a nice, leisurely shopping experience. Meijer is better for when shopping is shopping and you're not there to waste time being bombarded with selections you're probably not considering in the first place.

1) Price. The ONLY consideration for a lot of people, price is certainly important no matter how much money you have to spend. When you look at your overall bill, both stores are pretty close on price. Kroger makes an effort to have low prices on "the items you use the most"(according to their commercials). This is true, and you will find good deals on the basics. When you consider all their products, though, Meijer will usually save you a bit more. They didn't get where they are today by being expensive, after all. So if you're a shopper that sticks to common items and doesn't need a lot of specialty items, you'll probably save a little money at Meijer.

In truth, both of these stores are good place to get groceries and, in the case of Meijer, other products as well. I tend to shop at Meijer more, because when I do my shopping I often think of non-grocery items that I need, so going to Meijer saves me a trip. If I'm going solely for groceries and am looking for something unique, I like Kroger. Either way, happy shopping!!