Michigan’s Most Popular Grocery Store Somehow Isn’t Meijer

West Michigan's very own Meijer, the home of "higher standards, lower prices" has been a source of quick trips to the store and late-night meetups with friends for years (RIP 24-hour locations). Few people in Michigan HAVEN'T been to a Meijer, and whenever I have friends from out of state, one of the first things we do is show off the store.

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Honestly, having a point of pride for a grocery store is one of the most Midwest things imaginable. Anyways.

A recent study has gone ahead and found the most popular grocery store in Michigan, and not only is it NOT Meijer, but it's one that anyone on the west side of the state has likely not been to.

Meijer's Unexpected Opponent

While Meijer is prominent throughout the state, it isn't the most popular. StatsPanda is a content creator that produces graphs and other visuals based on business, finance, and politics.

One of their latest topics was "The Most Popular Grocery Store by State", and it revealed that grocery store chain Kroger, not Meijer, is Michigan's most popular grocery store.

Seems far-fetched right? Let's look at some facts.

• Meijer and Kroger both have around 120 stores around Michigan.
  • Kroger has 120 stores
  • Meijer has 124 stores
• Meijer has locations around the entire state, while Kroger is dominantly on the East side (the closest location to Grand Rapids is in Lansing).

However, the real reason Kroger is considered to be the most popular grocery store is probably something far more simple. According to their Instagram page, for this study, StatsPanda only included:

stores primarily selling groceries are featured, disqualifying large multi-purpose retailers like Target, Walmart, and Costco.

Since Meijer sells more than just groceries, Meijer was most likely excluded from this study for the same reasons as Target, Walmart, and Costco. Or, maybe I'm just in denial that Meijer may not be as great as I think it is.