What is Meijer’s stock price, and are they publicly traded? Unfortunately, investors cannot purchase shares of Meijer because it is a private company. However, Kroger (NYSE: KR), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) are grocery stocks that traders can invest in.
When I look at new stocks or sectors to invest in, I consider those necessary for people’s daily lives. I also look for recession-proof stocks that can withstand a weaker economy. When I think of these criteria, retail and grocery stores immediately come to mind.
You depend on grocery stores to buy food unless you are a self-sufficient farmer. If you’re in America, retail supercenters like Walmart and Target are probably stores you frequently visit. If you’re in the Midwest, chances are you’ve been shopping at a Meijer store.
This article will discuss investing in Meijer stock, the corporate history of Meijer, and the strategy of investing in grocery stores in your long-term portfolio.
Table of Contents
Meijer Introduction (No Stock Symbol)
Meijer is an American grocery and retail chain founded in 1934 in Greenville, Michigan. A Dutch immigrant barber, Hendrik Meijer, started the company. e moved to the grocery industry during the Great Depression. Meijer has remained a family business ninety years after Hendrik founded the company. The current co-chairs of Meijer are Hendrik’s grandsons, Hank and Doug Meijer.
A majority of Meijer’s first locations were throughout the state of Michigan. By the 1960s, Meijer had established more than 25 locations in Michigan. In 1962, it launched its first supercenter store, combining groceries and a department store. The “Thirty Acres” store covered over 180,000 square feet of space.
Upon Hendrik’s passing in 1964, his son Fred took over the business. Note that Fred Meijer and the Meijer business have no affiliation with the Westcoast grocery store Fred Meyer, which Kroger owns. Fred renamed the company from Thirty Acres to Meijer in 1986. Meijer did not expand outside of Michigan until the mid-1990s, when it opened stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio. Despite its strong, existing presence in Michigan, Meijer did not open its first store in Detroit until 2013.
Meijer was a revolutionary company for the grocery and retail business. Rumor has it that Walmart could not get the supercenter concept correct and copied the idea from Meijer. The difference between the two stores was how fresh Meijer’s produce was compared to Walmart’s. Meijer also came up with concepts like self-service shopping and shopping carts.
As of 2024, Meijer operates more than 250 supercenters across the Midwestern United States and more than 200 gas stations across six states, with Pennsylvania rumored to join that list soon. With more than $21 billion in annual revenue, Meijer is the 23rd-largest retailer in the United States.
Can I Buy Meijer Stock?
A grocery store chain that inspired Walmart and has a loyal following in the Midwest? Sign me up. Unfortunately, Meijer is one company you cannot invest in as it remains a private business that is family-owned by the Meijer family. The current co-chairs of Meijer are the grandsons of the company’s founder.
Will Meijer ever go public? That remains to be seen, although in the ninety years it has been in business, there has been no sign that the Meijers family wants to take the company public.
If you want to invest in Meijer stock, you’ll need to consider one of the other publicly traded retail stocks on the market. I am looking for some to consider. The next section has five retail stocks like Meijer to add to your watchlist.
Meijer Stock Competitors
I mentioned that I have always considered grocery and supermarket stocks solid investments. No matter what state the economy is in, people need to get their food and essentials from grocery stores.
The margins might not be great, but these stores have a near monopoly over how people feed their families. Although you can’t buy Meijer stock right now, here are a few companies like Meijer that you can currently invest in.
1. Walmart (NYSE: WMT)
It should be no surprise that Walmart is at the top of this list of Meijer stock competitors. The company is one of the greatest retail businesses ever to exist. Even though it copied its supercenter idea from Meijer, it is hard to argue against Walmart perfecting the formula.
How well did Walmart do? It’s the largest company in the world in terms of annual revenue, outpacing juggernauts like Apple, Amazon, and Saudi Aramco. In 2023, Walmart brought in more than $611 billion in revenue from its more than 10,000 global locations.
Walmart stock has been a steady gainer, with a more than 104% return since 2019. In the first eight months of 2024, WMT has returned more than 40% to shareholders while paying out a 1.10% dividend yield.
Walmart is a certified Dividend Aristocrat and has raised its distribution yearly since the first dividend paid out in 1974. WMT stock is a key retail component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a heavily weighted component of the S&P 500 index.
2. Kroger Co (NYSE: KR)
Kroger is one of the largest supermarket companies in the world, with more than 2,700 locations across its various brands. It was founded in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is still headquartered today.
This company owns Kroger, Fred Meyer, Dillons, and QFC. It ranks 42nd globally in annual revenue and outranks companies like Meta Platforms, Verizon, and Alibaba. Unlike Walmart, Kroger’s stores are located only in the United States.
Kroger’s stock has outperformed Walmart’s over the past five years. Shareholders have seen more than 124% return over that period compared to Walmart’s 104%. Kroger also pays a higher dividend yield with an annualized rate of 2.45%, which has been raised yearly since 2006.
Kroger is a component of the S&P 500 index and, while smaller than most other retail companies, has been a solid investment for shareholders. Therefore, this is a good Meijer stock alternative.
3. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Having a stock list of retail brands without including Amazon is hard. While it trails Walmart in annual revenue, it has a market cap that is triple its size, making it the fifth-largest company in the world.
Amazon has its marketplace, but the bread and butter of the company is its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services segment. It has become the largest portion of Amazon’s annual revenue, bringing in more than $90 billion in 2023. Amazon also owns a grocery store rival, Whole Foods, which it acquired in 2017.
Amazon’s stock performance speaks for itself. While it hasn’t had the same returns as other mega-cap tech stocks, it has provided 195,600% returns since its IPO.
However, zooming in, Amazon has lagged both Walmart and Kroger over the past five years. Unlike its other Magnificent Seven rivals, the stock does not pay dividends, which puts it at a disadvantage. Still, it’s hard not to consider Amazon one of the most important companies in the global economy now and in the future.
4. Target (NYSE: TGT)
Target is another massive retail chain that operates supercenter-esque outlets. These stores carry everything from clothing to toys to fresh groceries and directly rival Walmart and Meijer.
As of 2024, Target has nearly 2,000 stores in the United States, bringing in more than $107 billion in annual revenue in 2023. Like Kroger, Target operates entirely in the United States after a failed expansion into Canada.
TGT stock has lagged behind its rivals over the past few years. There was some negative sentiment against Target for going “woke” when it openly advertised Pride celebrations in its stores. Target shares have returned about 51% over the past five years, about half of Walmart’s and Amazon’s returns.
Target pays a dividend yield of 2.86%, which the company has raised yearly for 53 years. As a result, this makes Target a Dividend Aristocrat and is in the rare air of being a certified Dividend King.
5. Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST)
We end with what could be the largest retail company in the world over the next decade. Costco is an absolute compounding monster for shareholders. This company has grown to be the 20th largest company in the world by annual revenue and one of the largest weighted components of the NASDAQ 100 index.
As of 2024, Costco has nearly 900 warehouses globally across more than fifteen countries. Costco, which uses a premium paid membership program, has over 132 million global members and brought in $242.3 billion in annual revenue in 2023.
COST shares have vastly outperformed the mark et and its peers on this list. The stock has seen more than 220% returns over the past five years and has a market cap of nearly $400 billion. Costco pays a modest dividend yield of 0.53%, which it has raised for 21 consecutive years.
Final Thoughts: Meijer Stock
If you want to buy Meijer stock right now, you won’t be able to do so on any public market. Meijer is privately owned, as it has been since it started in 1934. Good news for those interested in investing in Meijer: the company is potentially looking to hold an IPO and go public in 2025.
Grocery stores and supermarket stocks have always appealed to me. It is one sector that always has customers. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, stores like Costco were deemed to be essential and remained open. We all need to eat, so grocery stores will likely always be great companies to invest in.
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Frequently Asked Questions
No, Meijer is a privately owned company since it started in 1934. Meijer has been owned and operated by the family, although reports indicate the family is considering going public through an IPO in 2025.
Meijer has always had a major presence in Michigan. It should come as no surprise that the city with the most Meijer stores is Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids has six Meijer stores, with 113 in Michigan.
The Meijer family has always owned the store. Hendrik Meijer founded the company in 1934, and three of his descendants sit on the Board of Directors.
Reports have surfaced that Meijer plans to go public in 2025 via an Initial Public Offering (IPO). There has been no official announcement, so Meijer remains a privately owned and operated company.
