OT: Grocery store in Michigan called Spartan? OUCH

Submitted by the_big_house 500th on

After finally getting FSN Detroit on my cable network, I came across an advertisement for a grocrery store in Michigan called Spartan. Now if it were me living up there I'd boycott that place in a heartbeat! Anybody else know about this store or currently shop there or have any knowledge about it? Is it in Ann Arbor too?

Mitch Cumstein

April 5th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

Do you get that channel without living in Michigan? If you do, how did you hook that up? I would pay for that channel in a second to get all the Tigers/Pistons and Wings games.

the_big_house 500th

April 5th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^

Because of the bull shit blackouts with the ownership issues I had it and the FSN packages removed. Those fuckers cut out the last minutes of the Michigan NM game and I missed the entire Mason Cup celebration which I'm still pissed about (thank god for youtube) but the games here in Ohio are blacked out so I decided to have somebody "hook me up" with the channel for free instead of buying the package and I'm not really going to say anymore about that lol.

Clarence Beeks

April 5th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^

I get it in South Carolina on DirecTV on their "sports pack". However, before you run out and get it (on any platform that offers it), if you live out of area you won't get the Tigers/Pistons/Wings games unless you buy the special package that goes with that sport (i.e. CenterIce/HomePlate/Whatever the NBA does).

Raback Omaba

April 5th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^

Are actually a very big Michigan institution. They are all over Michigan....however most of them aren't called Spartan Grocery Stores. They are generally called something else and sell Spartan Brands.

UNCWolverine

April 5th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

There is a group of grocery stores owned apparently by a group called Spartan Stores. I used to bag groceries at one such store in my small hometown. The link to MSU never even crossed my mind.

UMICH1606

April 5th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^

It is a grocery store chain throughout Michigan. Their products are considered off brand, and are placed in major retail grocery chains as well. Kind of ironic that it is considered an economy, or off brand though.

blueblueblue

April 5th, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^

Ouch? Why ouch? Why should we care if there was a store? I could see it being an issue if it were on the corner State St. and North U, but being concerned with anything else seems silly to me. How about we stop obsessing about MSU?

Wolverine In Exile

April 5th, 2010 at 1:02 PM ^

were pretty much the only grocery stores (along with the occasional IGA) once you crossed the mythical "Up north" line (approximately Birch Run going northbound where it starts to smell different). Spartan brands were about the only things keeping me alive during the 2 week vacations in Alpena with my family in summer. I always felt a little guilty eating "Spartan" food as I was a michigan fan from my youngest days, but hey, it's food, and FYS is an ag school....

Blazefire

April 5th, 2010 at 1:03 PM ^

Specializes in buying small local grocers just to kill them off so there's less competition for their stores.

It sucks, but they are ALL over.

jlcoleman71

April 5th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^

Spartan Stores, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, owns and operates 96 supermarkets and drugstores in Michigan and Ohio under the D&W Fresh Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, Felpausch Food Centers, Glen’s Markets and VG's Food and Pharmacy banners. The company also supplies more than 40,000 private label and national brand products to nearly 400 independent grocery stores.

MH20

April 5th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^

I used to live near one on the NW side of GR as well as in Hudsonville; I'd shop there when I just needed a few things. Much easier than going to Meijer. Unfortunately, I don't live near any now (I'd have to drive pastMeijer to get there), so Meijer it is.

switch26

April 5th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^

yes there are no actual "Spartan Stores", they refer to certain grocery stores as spartan stores because they sell their product. It is mostly on the west side of the state that a lot of stores carry the majority of their products.

Like the post above me Family Fare use to be called thrifty acres back in the day which carried a lot of spartan products and still do today.

MaizeSombrero

April 5th, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^

None of that is true.

There absolutely are Spartan Stores, but they are not branded that way anymore. Family Fare, Glen's and VG's are all spartan stores, they are owned by Spartan.

Link Here

Additionally, Thrifty Acres turned into this tiny little chain called Meijer, that no one in Michigan has probably ever heard of. Meijer does not carry Spartan Brand products, they carry Meijer brand products though.

Link Here

Geaux_Blue

April 5th, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^

what he said is technically correct in the way that he meant it: there are no longer stores named Spartan. there used to be but they chose a different strategy of being a conglomerate that bought out interests in local stores like D&W, Family Fare, etc. as I said in the post below, I believe there were Spartan Stores where the signed said... Spartan Grocery, etc. now they merely own and operate separately named stores that maintain some autonomy under the general Spartan empire.

Geaux_Blue

April 5th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^

but i believe there used to be Spartan Stores in West Michigan back in the late 80s, early 90s. they then closed and instead bought out existing "named" stores. i seem to remember one in the small shopping complex/area at 44th and kalamazoo in kentwood

steviebrownfor…

April 5th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

I used to work at the recently (like in the past 2 weeks) closed-down Spartan Stores distribution center in Plymouth, Michigan. We would ship groceries such as Faygo or Campbell's Soup as well as our own Spartan brand items to privately owned grocery stores across Michigan & Ohio. There were/are stores in Canton, Livonia, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and just about anywhere else in the state. Currently, Spartan is operated solely out of their headquarters in Grand Rapids.
It's a locally owned and operated business, so I will always support Spartan Stores. I would guess that the name of the company has some affiliation with Spartan Inc. being based in Michigan, but that's about it.

lbpeley

April 5th, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^

Dang. My parents still call Meijer that. I'm old enough to remember it being called that and we also call it "Meijer's". Gimme a good Meijer's over Wal-Suck any day.

jsquigg

April 5th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^

My dad worked at Spartan. There is no affiliation with "little brother." I inherited my fandom from my father and intend to pass it on to my son.

jmblue

April 5th, 2010 at 6:17 PM ^

I remember when Meijer used to sell "MTA Pro" sports equipment (baseball gloves and the like). I thought that was a cool-sounding brand name until someone explained to me that the name stood for "Meijer Thrifty Acres."

ChiliDog

April 5th, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^

There was a Spartan brand store in Monroe and in Toledo on the corner of Alexis and Douglas (1 mile away from the border). Kroger carried their products too.

Ernis

April 5th, 2010 at 8:26 PM ^

IIRC, Spartan encountered financial distress about a decade ago and, as part of their restructuring, dropped most of their store locations and focused their business operations on the food branding and distribution. Something to that effect, anyway.

I remember seeing a lot of the stores around when I was a kid, but haven't seen an actual Spartan supermarket in ... heck, I can't even remember.