DETROIT, MI – After opening its first store in Detroit a year ago, Meijer has announced that it is building a second location in that city.

With Meijer’s current store located at 8 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, the retailer was the first national grocery store chain to open in Detroit in 20 years, according to Click On Detroit.  One year in, the store is experiencing a boom in sales and a steady customer base.

Across the city, work has begun at the site of Meijer’s planned second store after last month’s official groundbreaking.  The new store is being built on the site of the old Redford High School on Grand River.

Detroit is often dismissed as a “food desert” that lacks affordable and quality fresh food, but The Detroit News reports that the city’s residents and grocers like Meijer beg to differ.

Auday Arabo, President and CEO of Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers, which represents more than 4,000 stores in Michigan, Ohio and surrounding states, says, “I like to call it ‘the food desert myth.’”

Arabo elaborates, telling the Detroit News that there are approximately 75 full-service grocery stores in Detroit with at least 65 of them being independently owned.  These stores bring a wide range of grocery options to the city.

The new Meijer store is currently scheduled to open in 2015 and will bring even more fresh options to the residents of Detroit.

Meijer