Grand Rapids and Meijer Inc. Coporate (Detroit, Wyoming: housing, rent, lease)

[AlwaysAskFirst]

Hi. My husband is interested in an executive-level position at Meijer Inc. coporate office. We're Pacific Northwesterners who love snow so the climate should not be a difficult adjustment for us and we are pleasantly surprised at the cost of homes should we decided to stay after our trial year. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

First of all, I would REALLY appreciate complete honesty about the atmosphere and environment in the corporate office and how the corporation treats their people. Please give as much detail as possible. It's a long way to move to turn around and have to move again.

Second of all, which areas are considered upscale **suburban** neighborhoods? Housing costs are MUCH lower than where we are currently at and it is hard for us to tell.

Third, what can you tell me about the Catholic elementary schools in the area? Are they academically more challenging than the public schools? Which parochial elementary school(s), if any, have a reputation for the best academics?

Finally, is there decent downhill skiing and boarding within a day-trip distance of Grand Rapids?

Thanks SOOOOOOO very, very much for the information!

[Dexterguy]

I do not know to much about Grand Rapids Area, I will leave that to another poster, but Meijer Inc. is a great company I have been shopping at their stores for wow! a long time now, many years. I hear that their corporate positions are very good also, a great company to work for!

[cardwellave]

Meijer is located in Walker which is a northwestern suburb of GR. I couldn't tell you what the upscale burbs are, but the suburbs generally are Walker, Comstock Park, Plainfield Township, Rockford (small town) to the north, Kentwood and Wyoming to the south as well as Grandville, and Cascade.

East Grand Rapids is a very conservative, lily white suburb, with lots of nice older, well cared for homes. Might work well for you. One of the oldest suburbs around.

I couldn't tell you about the Catholic institutions there, (I could help you out with those in Detroit, I survived Catholic school somehow!), but I can tell you GR is pretty conservative overall. The whole town seems to shut down on Sundays, and the mindset is pretty conservative (my main gripe with GR.)

Just a note in case it matters to you, Meijer has gotten lambasted more than once in areas of equality. For the past three years they have received a zero rating on the Human Rights Campaign corporate equality index, which measures how Meijer treats gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgender employees, and has repeatedly provided no benefits or workplace protection for them. It is one of only three companies out of 500 to receive a zero rating, and it contrasts starkly with that of Target which received an 80%, Sears/Kmart 100%, and Walmart 40%.

I really do like Meijer stores and am continually impressed with their selection and good prices. Meijer, along with DeVos are two named you'll hear a lotttt of in GR.

Welcome!

[GlassPipe]

Well, she's a catholic looking for a rich white neighborhood in GR. From what you've described about Meijer's human rights, her family and Meijer will get along just fine.

I have a real problem with the human rights issue too, and their drug testing, and the way that they are over priced on most everything.

Good luck with the move. Though if I were you I wouldn't leave the PNW if you offered me a chance to kick Harry Anslinger in the balls. That's saying a lot! Lot's of excellent glass blowers out there.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by cardwellave

East Grand Rapids is a very conservative, lily white suburb, with lots of nice older, well cared for homes. Might work well for you. One of the oldest suburbs around.

Correction: EGR is a lily white suburb that votes more moderately than the majority of burbs in the area. Check the voting records. Just trying not to perpetuate a falsehood about EGR.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by AlwaysAskFirst

First of all, I would REALLY appreciate complete honesty about the atmosphere and environment in the corporate office and how the corporation treats their people. Please give as much detail as possible. It's a long way to move to turn around and have to move again.

Second of all, which areas are considered upscale **suburban** neighborhoods? Housing costs are MUCH lower than where we are currently at and it is hard for us to tell.

Third, what can you tell me about the Catholic elementary schools in the area? Are they academically more challenging than the public schools? Which parochial elementary school(s), if any, have a reputation for the best academics?

Finally, is there decent downhill skiing and boarding within a day-trip distance of Grand Rapids?

Answers to your helpfully numbered questions

1) Meijer is a stalwart in this community. Their family name is all over, due to their generous philanthropic donations to the area. Their store in Cascade has got to be the nicest big box I've ever shopped in. Generally people in GR have a great opinion of the company both corporately and retail-wise. Like any big American retail competitor, Wal-Mart scares the bejeezus out of everyone and I think there have been some layoffs and out-sourcing. I know they sent a lot of computer programming jobs to India. That is the market we live in, so I don't hold it against them...but you might find some pockets of resentment due to that. Overall, if I was job-hunting and Meijer came calling, I would not have qualms about taking the position.

2) Meijer is in the northwest side of town. You might consider living on that side of town to minimize your commute and put you closer to Lake Michigan which is definitely the recreational hub of West Michigan. That said, the most affluent suburbs are (in no particular order) Ada (east side), Cascade (southeast side) and East Grand Rapids (inner ring, southeast side). Still, if you're going to take a job northwest of town, you should probably look at Grand Haven. You could live right on or near The Lake (especially with your PacWest buying power). Grand Haven is the kind of place you send your kids to public schools (as are Ada, Cascade and EGR), not private schools. At least the overwhelming majority of people do. Honestly, Michigan has great public schools. My relatives on th east coast are always amazed we'd sink to sending our kids to public school right up until I point out that our local district sends more kids to selective schools than their expensive prep school.

3) Despite what I just said about public schools being the way to go in some areas, Catholic schools in GR are great. Catholic Central High School has been rated among the nations best Catholic High Schools. I don't know about elementary schools though, sorry.

4) If you are coming from the Pacific Northwest, there is no decent downhill skiing or boarding within 12 hours drive. I believe the tallest hill in the lower peninsula is Boyne Mountain which is at best 500' and probably lower than that. There are great resorts that are fun to stay at.... it's just that Michigan is a flat state. Even the relatively hilly Upper Peninsula only qualifies as "mountains" if you were raised somewhere in the midwest or central plains states. Here in town we have a few tiny little bumps that get covered in snow and have skiiers on them. :-) Cannonsburg, Pando, Bittersweet, Timber Ridge are the most popular within an hour. North of town there are nicer places that are more resorty: Crystal Mountain, Treetops Resort, Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands, Nub's Nob. If you get all the way to the Keweenaw Peninsula Mount Bohemia is probably the toughest skiing in the state. There are other great options up there like Norway Mountain, Indianhead and Big Powderhorn. The only downside to the Upper Peninsula (or "The U.P." as you'll call it if you end up moving here) is that it's so darn far away you might as well just buy a ticket for Colorado and go do some real skiing. The drive from Grand Rapids to Mount Bohemia is nearly 10 hours in the summer, when there isn't 5 feet of snow on the roads in the UP. I've been up there in the winter... it's great fun, but plan to stay a while and bring your 4x4.

Generally, what you will find is that Michigan's culture (despite our long snowy winters) is actually water-centric, not snow-centric. This is obviously due to the enormous lake 35 miles from downtown Grand Rapids. But there are also great fishing/canoeing rivers, a myriad of inland lakes, and until the one-state recession we found ourselves in began a few years ago, Michigan has more boats registered than any other state (despite being considerably smaller than Florida or California which now both lead Michigan considerably). If you move here.... plan to enjoy winter, but also start thinking about boating in the summer. It's our state pastime.

[GRRAZO]

ha I am always amazed by some of the eastsiders' comments about Grand Rapids. As I have grown up there and also lived in kzoo and farmington hills and Ill, I find that some of those coments being based around the perceptions of a few OUTer subbburbs mostly in Ottawa county and based around 10+ years ago. The city itself is progressive, diverse and becomming more so and also generally votes liberal. I grew up on SE side where my parents still live. Good schools fairly diverse, people are friendly and accepting. The thing about the city shutting down on Sunday????? The only thing I could think of is maybe a few restraunts that are closed sundays (Russes?) Maybe he was refering to Hudsonville. Anyways the nicer subburbs are going to be EGR, Ada and Cascade with a few places in kantwood, caladonia and rockford. EGR is older and contains many old mansions as well as smaller old subburban type houses. It is very well kept not very diverse but clos to everything. Ada and Cascade are in Forest Hills which is more hilly and has more trees than other places. There are also gated communitees and houses on larger lots. There is still a mix of housing in some places. Both EGR and Forest Hills have top ranked public schools in the state And Catholic Central is also very good. If you live in either community it would probably be about a 10-25 min comute to meijers.

[cardwellave]

I was referring to businesses in the downtown, Eastside, Gaslight Village, and Heartside areas. There were almost no stores or independent restaurants open.

Of course the big boxes and chains will be open in the suburbs and scattered throughout GR.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by cardwellave

I was referring to businesses in the downtown, Eastside, Gaslight Village, and Heartside areas. There were almost no stores or independent restaurants open.

Of course the big boxes and chains will be open in the suburbs and scattered throughout GR.

I'm not aware of many non-independent restaurants in Gaslight Village or Downtown. I'm not sure what you're talking about.... besides an Olga's in Gaslight (one out of 7 restaurants) and a Jimmy John's downtown, aren't they nearly all independent?

[cardwellave]

That's what I said. Basically nothing was open on Sunday because, other than the Olga's and Jimmy John's, nearly everything was closed...meaning all the independent stores.