Shoppers offer their first impressions of Meijer's new Alliance, North Canton stores

A hello and a friendly smile on Tuesday greeted shoppers entering the new Meijer supercenters in Alliance and North Canton.

"Hello, welcome to Meijer," employees said.

The long-awaited openings of the Michigan retailer's newest additions to Northeast Ohio and Stark County occurred at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Meijer's executive chairman Hank Meijer and president and chief executive officer Rick Keyes visited both stores.

Local officials have touted the Meijer stores as economic boosts for their communities. The company also has a location in Jackson Township.

To save at Meijer: Follow these steps at Meijer's new Alliance, North Canton stores

"As we celebrate our 90th anniversary as a family-owned retailer, providing value and convenience to our customers is still our top priority," Hank Meijer said in a news release. "We're excited to bring our unique shopping experience to customers in North Canton and Alliance while also investing in these communities."

For several shoppers, their first impressions of the new stores were good.

"I like it. It has a little bit of everything," said Megan Miku of Alliance. "Like, I got a plant, clothes, groceries and a chair. They had a lot of good specials today."

Kim Wilson of Ravenna was loading $250 worth of groceries and other goods into her car at the Alliance store. She shops frequently at the Meijer stores in Brimfield and Stow, but she wanted to see this one.

"I wasn't coming for anything," Wilson said with a chuckle.

Randy Rininger of Niles also shops at Meijer near his home. He came to the Alliance store for grand opening deals.

"I knew they were going to have steaks on sale," he said. "(The store) is beautiful."

Here we go: Meijer to open Alliance, North Canton stores on May 14, 2024

Cheryl Salmen made the trip from Carrollton to Alliance to see the store, and she plans to return frequently.

"I live down in Carrollton. There's nothing there," she said. "You have to go to New Philadelphia. This is closer, and I'm not a huge fan of Walmart."

Shopper: 'The stores are always clean.'

Bob Novak and his wife, Beth, of Perry Township are frequent shoppers at Meijer's Jackson Township store.

They wanted to see the North Canton store.

"The stores are always clean, always well stocked and the staff is always very nice and helpful," Novak said.

North Canton residents Vivian Huffman and Victoria Wasik shopped at their local store Tuesday. Both said they enjoyed the "one-stop shopping" experience there. "The only thing missing is a restaurant (inside)," Huffman said with a smile.

Meijer has free access to Aira for vision impaired customers

In the news release, Meijer said the Alliance and North Canton stores offer free access to Aira, an app-based service that provides live navigation assistance to blind and low-vision customers using the camera of their smartphones, as in all Meijer stores.

Meijer opened its first store in Ohio 1981. It now has three in Stark County. The retailer says it employs more than 11,000 people across the state at 55 stores and its distribution and manufacturing facilities in Tipp City.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Meijer supercenters in Alliance and North Canton are now open