Meijer testing Grocery Express service

St. Charles, Ill. Meijer is testing a new shopping concept, called Grocery Express, in two locations in Illinois, according to The Courier News.

Grocery Express allows shoppers to log onto a Web site and select groceries and health and beauty care products online, then have store employees shop for the items and prepare them for a scheduled pickup time at the drive-through window.

Meijer charges $6.95 for the express service, which is available at its stores in Aurora and St. Charles. The stores were strategically chosen from a pool of 11 locations.

"The area surrounding our Aurora store is more heavily residential, while the area surrounding our St. Charles store is more commercial," Frank J. Guglielmi, director of public relations for Meijer, said in the report. "This allows us to monitor how different customers use the service."

If the launch goes well, Guglielmi said, Grocery Express could expand throughout the Chicago area within the next 12 months.