Mantel wrote him often to ensure that Meijer remained active with anarchism and the teachings of social anarchist Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis.
[1][2] Meijer first resided in Holland, Michigan, and was irritated by the conservative community and Christian Reformed Church, immediately joining a socialist group upon arrival.
[2] In 1934, Meijer entered the grocery business during the Great Depression in an unrented building he constructed beside his barbershop.
[10] In 1962, Meijer and his son Frederik pioneered the superstore concept with the opening of Thrifty Acres in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
[2][11] By the twenty-first century, the Meijer supermarket chain grew into one of the largest private companies and retail stores in the United States.
[14] Throughout his life, Meijer held controversial political views that contrasted with the American public; he criticized World War I, condemned the arrest of Eugene V. Debs, described Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as being two parts of the same thing, and denounced the red-baiting McCarthyism of Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare in the 1950s.
[14][10] Meijer's household also did not smoke, did not drink alcohol, and advocated for the respect of all people regardless of race or social class.