Frederik Meijer, the Grand Rapids billionaire credited with inventing the supercenter store format in 1962 that made his Meijer chain a successful Midwest retailer and was copied by Sam Walton for his chain Wal-Mart, died Friday at age 91."As the chain grew, it caught the attention of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton who tried to meet with Mr. Meijer in the 1970s to talk about buying the Meijer business. Not wanting to offend Walton by saying no, Mr. Meijer said he was too busy.
Had Walton succeeded in buying the Meijer chain, it would have dramatically altered the course of Grand Rapids’ economy, which grew over the following decades with Meijer and other major local companies.
Even if its founder was irritated, Wal-Mart never hid the fact the one-stop-shopping center format that catapulted it into retail dominance was based on Meijer’s innovative concept."
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