Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer Inc. opened new stores Tuesday in Wauwatosa and Oak Creek.
The Oak Creek store is located in the Drexel Town Square development southwest of Howell and Drexel avenues.
The Wauwatosa store is located on the south side of Burleigh Street, at 112th Street, across Burleigh from the Mayfair Collection development.
The two stores will have a total of nearly 600 employees, the company said.
The two stores are part of a $750 million investment that Meijer is making as it enters the Wisconsin marketplace. In June, Meijer opened stores in Grafton and Kenosha. The company also plans to open stores in Sussex, Waukesha, Greenfield, West Bend and Sheboygan.
Meijer stores include full grocery and general merchandise departments and are typically 192,000 square feet in size. The company now operates 222 stores in six states and plans to open two to three new Wisconsin supercenters per year through 2019.
“Since opening our first two stores in the state six weeks ago, local residents and new customers have welcomed us with open arms and responded positively to the new shopping option we offer in Wisconsin,” co-chairman Hank Meijer said. “We are thrilled to be opening our Wauwatosa and Oak Creek supercenters, giving us the opportunity to provide a quality one-stop shopping experience to more communities around Milwaukee.”
“Our teams have worked very hard to prepare and we’re excited to bring our stores to Wauwatosa and Oak Creek,” Meijer president J.K. Symancyk said. “We do our best to find locations that will best serve communities and are looking forward to building on the excitement of our first four stores in Wisconsin in the years to come.”
With the stores openings, Meijer made $25,000 donations to the Wauwatosa Public Library Foundation and the Oak Creek Public Library to fund an internet café at each location. The donations will allow the public libraries to purchase technology and necessary furnishings for the creation of a young adult space.
