Meijer: To be or not to be at mall?

Grocery chain, Eastwood differ on agreement existence

HOWLAND -- Is Meijer to be or not at the Eastwood Mall Complex?

That's the question now as officials from the grocery store chain and the Cafaro Company differ on whether Meijer has purchased the building that was once Super Kmart.

Senior Director of Communications for Meijer, Frank J. Guglielmi, wrote in an email the company has "a contractual agreement in place for that site," but didn't elaborate more on subsequent questions regarding what type of contractual agreement -- sale or lease agreement, or letter of intent.

"No plans have been finalized regarding construction or opening dates," Guglielmi wrote. "That's the extent of the information I can provide."

Cafaro Company spokesman Joe Bell said the company has "no consummated deal" with Meijer, but could not say if company officials were working toward that end.

"It's a wonderful thing should that come to be, but we do not have a signed agreement with them just yet … Our people have spoken with Meijer over a period of months and years. They speak to a lot of retailers on a regular basis, and they have had discussions with Meijer."

Cleveland.com reported on its website Monday that Guglielmi stated "we currently own sites in Avon, Mentor, Stow, Lorain, Warren/Niles and Austintown and have sites under contract in Brimfield and Boardman. Also, we continue to look at other areas. Our first stores in the Cleveland area will open next summer in Avon, Mentor and Stow."

Meijer, which began in 1934, has more than 220 stores and employs more than 65,000 in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. It already has plans to build stores in Boardman and in Austintown.

Boardman trustees in July approved a zoning change required to locate a Meijer store at the intersection of U.S. Route 224, Tippecanoe Road and Lockwood Boulevard, with construction planned for 2020.

A new store also is planned in Austintown at the site of the former Austintown Middle School on Mahoning Avenue. Its planned opening is 2020 or 2021.

Peter Ross, zoning administrator in Howland, said earlier this month representatives from the grocer and Cafaro Company inquired about the township's variance process sometime in July.

While most of the mall complex is in Niles, the Super Kmart building and some other nearby stores in the complex are in Howland.