Both Walmart and Meijer are large supermarkets that offer a wide variety of products to its customers. While both are great stores, it is important to know how these stores differ. As a shopper, you may have different things you value like price, quality, or even store location. If you are a fan of both Walmart and Meijer, but are not sure which one is better, look no further. We’ve compared these two grocery stores in price, product availability, location and even payroll! Read more to find out which grocery store fits your needs better.
Which is Better Walmart or Meijer? In terms of price, Walmart is consistently cheaper than Meijer over a variety of categories. Additionally, Walmart offers a wider selection of products, and generally has larger stores. However, when it comes to pay and salary, Meijer appears to compensate its employees a bit better than Walmart.
Is Meijer more expensive Than Walmart?
For shoppers that prioritize price over everything, we took a look at how much each of these stores costs for their regular store brand items. More specifically, we collected price information on 60+ items within the following categories: Beverages, Baking Goods, Canned Goods, Dairy, Dry Goods, Frozen Foods, Personal Care, Cleaners, and Other.
The chart below indicates which store has the cheapest prices for a given shopping category:
| Category | Meijer Brand | Walmart Great Value |
| Beverages | ✓ | |
| Baking Goods | ✓ | |
| Canned Goods | ✓ | |
| Dairy | ✓ | |
| Dry Goods | ✓ | |
| Frozen Foods | ✓ | |
| Personal Care | ✓ | |
| Cleaners | ✓ | |
| Others | ✓ |
From our findings it seems that Walmart is cheaper for baking goods, canned goods, dairy, frozen foods, personal care, and cleaners. Whereas Meijer is cheaper for certain beverages, dry goods, and other miscellaneous items you may need.
Based on how frequently you purchase certain products, this may help you decide on which items you will buy at Walmart and which items you will buy at Meijer. While, Walmart is cheaper in price for most items, you may find it useful to explore which specific items are cheaper at Meijer.
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Product Variety: Walmart vs Meijer
Both Walmart and Meijer are classified as hypermarkets. This means that they sell items typically sold in a grocery store and items that are sold in a department store. That is why, when you visit either of these stores, you are able to shop for fresh produce, clothing, and other miscellaneous items.
In terms of variety, it seems that Walmart offers a bit more product variety than Meijer. It seems that Walmart has a total of 16 different shopping categories, while Meijer has 15 different types of shopping categories. Below is a list of the shopping categories available from each store:
Walmart
- Electronics
- Office
- Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
- Home, Furniture & Appliances
- Toys, Games, and Video Games
- Home Improvement
- Movies, Music & Books
- Baby
- Patio & Garden
- Food, Household & Pets
- Pharmacy, Health & Personal Care
- Beauty
- Sports, Fitness & Outdoors
- Auto, Tires & Industrial
- Photo & Personalized Shop
- Art, Craft, Sewing & Party Supplies
Meijer
- Grocery
- Lifestyle
- Beer, Wine & Spirits
- Household
- Health Care
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Baby & Toddler
- Pet Care
- Toys
- Garden & Outdoor
- Home Improvement & Auto
- Sporting Goods
- Party
- Clothing & Jewelry
- Office Supplies
While the difference in their product variety is quite small, it is a testament to Walmart’s vast diversity in product selection. To add to this, Walmart’s largest superstore locations are approximately 260,000 square feet, whereas Meijer’s largest locations are 180,000 square feet. This means that Walmart has more shelf space and storage space for their large inventory of products.
Which Has More Locations: Walmart or Meijer?
When it comes to location of stores, Walmart absolutely dominates Meijer. Not only does Walmart have stores in every state of the US (4,700+ total in the US), they also have locations in 25 different countries. This amount of locations is such a large contributor to their global presence.
Quite contrary to this, while Meijer is quite dominant in the mid-western states, they only have established locations in 6 states in the US (254 in total). These states include:
- Michigan
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Ohio
- Wisconsin
- Illinois
By comparison Walmart has stores in 44 more states than Meijer. Additionally, Meijer does not have any locations overseas, they only have establishments within the US.
Who Pays More: Walmart or Meijer?
Although it is not high on many shoppers priority list, the way a store treats their employees could be another decision factor in where certain customers shop. So we investigated to see which store pays their employees more, Walmart or Meijer. According to salary and wage information on Glassdoor, Walmart pays their cashiers and grocery stockers a higher wage than Meijer, but Meijer pays their store managers a higher salary.
It’s important to note though that this is just an average, and depending on what state you live in, these wages and salaries will vary quite drastically. Wages and salaries are based off of minimum wage laws and cost of living, so these numbers will likely change from location to location.
| Job Title | Walmart Wage/Salary | Meijer Wage/Salary |
| Cashier | $12/hour | $11/hour |
| Stocker | $12/hour | $10/hour |
| Assistant Manager | $53,000/year | – |
| Store Manager | $96,811/year | $99,000/year |