Name: Meijer
Age: 85
Occupation: mega retailer
Last Seen: Walker, MI
Bee-otched For: shutting down Tom's
-Age: 85
Occupation: mega retailer
Last Seen: Walker, MI
Bee-otched For: shutting down Tom's
When The Kinks released "Come Dancing" in 1982, it was a surprise hit on the pop charts.
Maybe it was simply because of its sentimental value. The song - written about Ray Davies' late sister - talked about her dancing in a palley which was transformed into a bowling alley, then a supermarket and finally into a parking lot.
Fifty years ago in the Traverse City suburb of Acme, Michigan sat the Tanz Haus, a small concert venue and nightclub where local and regional rock bands played. Two of those acts included two relatively-unknown kids named Ted Nugent and Bob Seger. However, it was demolished in the 1980s to make way for a Kmart, which was right next to a Tom's Food Market and across from the Grand Traverse Resort.
Tom's was built in Acme in 1983. Originally, they only took up 2/3 of the building while the other 1/3 was occupied by a Rite Aid. After Rite Aid moved out in the 1990s, Tom's took over its old spot. I had fond memories of Tom's, shopping there with my grandmother who died last year.
However, the Acme Tom's has had a tough road these past few years since a Meijer opened only a few miles away on M-72. It didn't help matters when Kmart closed last year.
Yesterday, Tom's president Christy Kuhnke - the granddaughter of Tom's founder Tom Deering - announced that it was no longer economically feasible to keep the Acme store open. Thankfully, many of the store's employees will be able to find work at the company's five other locations.
Acme residents and officials fought tooth and nail to not allow the Meijer store to open. After all, Meijer hired a PR firm to try to get Acme's elected officials fired for not allowing them to build along M-72. In the end in 2015, the 240,000-square-foot store opened, complete with coffin nails being shot at Tom's and Kmart.
Granted, Kmart is not in good financial shape thanks to the poor management of former CEO Eddie Lampert. But Tom's is a different story. After the Acme closure, they will still have five stores, including two that were built within the past 15 years at West Bay and Interlochen. Oddly enough, the Interlochen store forced another supermarket down the street, Ric's to shutter last year. Now, it's a book store. In the company's 73 years in business, they've only closed three stores: their original location on 11th Street (which became a Salvation Army store), Cherryland Center (which ironically had a Kmart in the building) and now, Acme.
Granted, I've had a love-hate relationship with Meijer. Hell, I'd rather shop there over Walmart. But the fact is that because of their M-72 location, it caused the road commission to re-route the road to now have (da-dada-daaaaaa) ROUNDABOUTS! True, it's 100% not Meijer's fault that traffic on M-72 has increased a shit ton in the past 20 years or so. A lot of the blame, too goes to Turtle Creek Casino. As a kid, I remembered when Williamsburg was a sleepy little ghost town with one gas station. Now, it has three, including one owned by Turtle Creek themselves.
I know, times they are-a-changin'. But what's sad is that Tom's is a local business to Traverse City. Meijer is from Grand Rapids. The days of stores that only sell groceries and not a one-stop shopping experience are ending. Hell, the family that owns Tom's relatives had a store in nearby Empire and it closed last year, too. It was no longer profitable. But what's sad is that Meijer bullied their way to get their store in Acme built and they got their wish. What's worse is that Tom's in Acme was only a few years to survive. The Meijers are billionaires and probably don't pay much in taxes vs. the Deerings.
Now, the town has TWO huge empty spaces to worry about.
Tom's was built in Acme in 1983. Originally, they only took up 2/3 of the building while the other 1/3 was occupied by a Rite Aid. After Rite Aid moved out in the 1990s, Tom's took over its old spot. I had fond memories of Tom's, shopping there with my grandmother who died last year.
However, the Acme Tom's has had a tough road these past few years since a Meijer opened only a few miles away on M-72. It didn't help matters when Kmart closed last year.
Yesterday, Tom's president Christy Kuhnke - the granddaughter of Tom's founder Tom Deering - announced that it was no longer economically feasible to keep the Acme store open. Thankfully, many of the store's employees will be able to find work at the company's five other locations.
Acme residents and officials fought tooth and nail to not allow the Meijer store to open. After all, Meijer hired a PR firm to try to get Acme's elected officials fired for not allowing them to build along M-72. In the end in 2015, the 240,000-square-foot store opened, complete with coffin nails being shot at Tom's and Kmart.
Granted, Kmart is not in good financial shape thanks to the poor management of former CEO Eddie Lampert. But Tom's is a different story. After the Acme closure, they will still have five stores, including two that were built within the past 15 years at West Bay and Interlochen. Oddly enough, the Interlochen store forced another supermarket down the street, Ric's to shutter last year. Now, it's a book store. In the company's 73 years in business, they've only closed three stores: their original location on 11th Street (which became a Salvation Army store), Cherryland Center (which ironically had a Kmart in the building) and now, Acme.
Granted, I've had a love-hate relationship with Meijer. Hell, I'd rather shop there over Walmart. But the fact is that because of their M-72 location, it caused the road commission to re-route the road to now have (da-dada-daaaaaa) ROUNDABOUTS! True, it's 100% not Meijer's fault that traffic on M-72 has increased a shit ton in the past 20 years or so. A lot of the blame, too goes to Turtle Creek Casino. As a kid, I remembered when Williamsburg was a sleepy little ghost town with one gas station. Now, it has three, including one owned by Turtle Creek themselves.
I know, times they are-a-changin'. But what's sad is that Tom's is a local business to Traverse City. Meijer is from Grand Rapids. The days of stores that only sell groceries and not a one-stop shopping experience are ending. Hell, the family that owns Tom's relatives had a store in nearby Empire and it closed last year, too. It was no longer profitable. But what's sad is that Meijer bullied their way to get their store in Acme built and they got their wish. What's worse is that Tom's in Acme was only a few years to survive. The Meijers are billionaires and probably don't pay much in taxes vs. the Deerings.
Now, the town has TWO huge empty spaces to worry about.
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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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