Hendrik Meijer
Success Story 

Hendrik Meijer didn't have much growing up. He worked hard for 30 years, trying his hand at millwork, as a cloth salesman, chicken and dairy farmer, landlord and barber before entering the grocery business in1934 in Greenville, during the Great Depression. He saved up all his money and purchased the materials to build a store to rent out to a business owner, but after he built the store, no one wanted to rent it. So Hendrik decided to spend 300 dollars on grocery stock, and opened it as a grocery store himself. His first employee was his 14 year old son Fedrik. "I guess he figured if the inventory didn't sell, he would always eat it, "said Hank Meijer his grandson who inherited the family business and is one of the 14 billionaires in Michigan and one of the wealthiest people in the world. Hendrik had many new ideas for his store. Meijer was among the first stores to offer self-service shopping and shopping carts. The Meijer stores grew rapidly and the Meijer family became billionaires. Forbes magazine said in its annual rankings of the world's richest people that brothers Hank and Doug Meijer are worth $10.7 billion, ranking 118th worldwide. Both are now co-chairman of Meijer, and Hank is the CEO of the company founded by their grandfather. The company operates stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Although Hendrik Meijer never give up on his vision, Meijer currently employs 72,200 employees with over 224 locations and produces over 15 Billion dollars in revenue. 

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I Am a Success Story!

In Jesus Name!

                                                                                            Art Cartwright