Arkansas-based Wal-Mart has been opening stores within site of Meijer locations for several years, but Kinstle said Meijer is up for the challenge. Wal-Mart recently purchased property in Greenville, MI, near the site of the first Meijer store, but as yet no construction has started.

Privately held Meijer ranks as the nation's 15th-largest grocer, according to Supermarket News, with an estimated $11.1 billion in annual sales. The company last summer announced a far-reaching makeover to help it compete: new designs, new products and new stores that cost less to build and to run. Kinstle did say, however, that Mejier has no intention of moving outside of its traditional Midwestern market.

Renovations are planned this year at more than 40 Meijer stores that will incorporate some of the new concepts introduced by Meijer and David Rockwell, a New York designer and architect hired by the retailer. Kinstle told the audience how Meijer and Wal-Mart by years' end will each have 11 supercenters in the Columbus, OH, market --the same market that proved too brutal for the Big Bear grocery store chain. The long-entrenched grocer recently closed its 44 stores in that region.