The Meijer Members-Only Store That No One Remembers

The supermarket that started in Greenville in 1934 spread around the state before expanding into the Midwest, now totaling over 500 stores across 6 states. The grocer has multiple formats, from supercenters and grocery stores to neighborhood markets and express locations.

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But did you know there was a time when Meijer attempted to copy Sam's Club and Costco's business model of charging a membership to enter? Well, if you haven't, don't feel bad; things did not go well. Here's the story of Source Club.

⬇️BEFORE IT WAS MEIJER, IT WAS CALLED THRIFTY ACRES⬇️

Sam's Club, Costco, and...Source Club?

The 1980s saw the creation of both Costco (1983) and Sam's Club (1983), two wholesale stores whose business model of charging a yearly membership fee created a unique boost in money and loyalty to their stores that hadn't been seen before.

READ MORE: Why Meijer Paid $7 Million To Move A Gas Station 300 Feet |

While profits for these stores during the early days aren't available, there was money being made since the people at Meijer decided they would open their version of this store. This concept came in the form of Source Club, which opened in 1992. Meijer quickly opened 7 locations in Fraser, Kentwood, Livonia, Okemos, Taylor, Westland, and Wyoming, charging $20/year for a membership.

Source Club was distinct from Meijer via its green branding rather than the red Meijer. It offered much of what wholesale stores do today: a little bit of everything. Groceries, furniture, an optical center, a photo center, a food court, and an automotive shop, just to name a few. You name it, Source Club most likely had it. The above is the store layout from a newspaper ad when Source Club first opened. Source Club's main selling point was that it was cheap and didn't "restrict memberships."

From discussions on r/grandrapids and r/Michigan subreddits, as well as on Facebook, people were generally pleased with Source Club. So why didn't it succeed?

Tough Competition

Source Club only lasted two years before closing all seven locations in 1994, reportedly unable to compete with Costco and Sam's Club. This could have been due to the low costs of the memberships, but this isn't clear. Meijer sold all seven locations, one of which ironically was sold to Costco, another turned into a regular Meijer,  two were demolished, and three were turned into department stores.

I also stumbled across this theory of why Source Club shuttered, however, I found no additional support for it. While Meijer's Source Club was a short lived expedition, Meijer is doing just fine.