Meijer is an American supercenter chain founded in 1934 by Hendrik Meijer, who opened a grocery store called Thrift Market in Greenville, Michigan, with his son Fred. The company is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962, combining grocery and general merchandise under one roof. Today the chain operates more than 250 stores across the Midwest, with headquarters in Walker, Michigan. [1]
The current Meijer logo, introduced in 2004, is a simple lowercase wordmark: “meijer” rendered in red with two blue dots above the “i” and “j.” The mark has remained unchanged since its introduction. [1] [2]
Design and History
Meijer’s visual identity has undergone several distinct redesigns over its history, each roughly two decades apart in the modern era. The first logo, used from 1934 to 1957, featured the Thrift Market name in white uppercase letters inside a long red horizontal rectangle, with a small square dot at the end of the name. [1]
After the company adopted the Meijer name, a new logo appeared from 1957 to 1966. This design used a red pentagon with rounded edges, showing “Meijer” in large lowercase letters above smaller uppercase text reading “Super Markets.” White stars sat atop the “i” and “j.” [1]
The 1966 redesign simplified the mark considerably. It featured a solid red square with white lettering, centered on a large “m” with the company name written beneath it. [1] [2]
In 1984, Meijer’s 50th anniversary year, the company removed the background shape entirely and introduced a bold uppercase serif wordmark in a light shade of red. The dots above the “i” and “j” were replaced with yellow parallelograms slanted to the left. [1] [2]
The 2004 redesign brought the current lowercase wordmark, which was part of a broader company image makeover. In 2003, Meijer announced that all new stores would feature an entirely new format and company image, complete with a new logo intended to make the stores seem “friendly” and inviting. [3] The company hired New York architect David Rockwell, known for his design of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, to give its newest stores a fresh look. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current logo’s documented symbolism is limited to its color scheme. The word “meijer” appears in red, while the dots above the “i” and “j” are blue. [5] The 2004 redesign was described by the company as intended to make stores seem “friendly” and inviting, which is the clearest documented intent behind the new mark. [3]
Typography and Design
The current wordmark uses lowercase lettering set in a sans-serif typeface with bold, stable characters. [6] The design is purely typographic, containing no graphic elements beyond the two blue dots above the “i” and “j.” [1]
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