Retailer plans to spend more than $375 million this year

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer Inc. said it intends to invest more than $375 million this year in new and remodeled stores. The investment includes construction of seven new Meijer supercenters and 22 remodel projects.

“These projects represent an investment in our customers, team members and the local communities that have supported us for so long,”  Meijer president and chief executive officer Rick Keyes said in a statement. “We’re also excited that at long last we’ll cross the bridge and open our first stores in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”

Meijer said its new store commitment follows its focus on steady growth throughout its six-state footprint. When including this year’s stores, Meijer will have opened more than 50 new stores since 2010.

New supercenters will be opened this year in Escanaba, Mich.; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; McCordsville, Ind.; Franklin, Ind.; Greenfield, Wis.; Howard, Wis. (Green Bay); and West Bend, Wis.

The remodel projects aim to improve store layouts, expand grocery and health and beauty sections, and enhance the stores’ energy efficiency, lighting, heating, refrigeration and parking lots.

The remodels will upgrade stores in such markets as Detroit; Cincinnati; Louisville, Ky.; and suburban Chicago. This year’s remodel investment means that by the end of 2017 Meijer will have remodeled and upgraded nearly 90 stores since 2010.

Meijer said that its recent additions of new supercenters and its remodeled stores have resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs and the pumping of millions of dollars of tax receipts into local communities. The company noted that it often hires local contractors when building and remodeling stores. Meijer operates more than 230 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin.