After years of staring at an empty stretch of the former Geauga Lake site, Bainbridge Township is finally getting a new headliner. Meijer's sprawling new supercenter at 7300 Aurora Road cuts the ribbon at 6 a.m. Wednesday, and store leaders say they are bracing for a crowd.
The 159,000-square-foot big-box store fills a long-vacant piece of land near State Route 43, bringing a full grocery, pharmacy and bakery to a corridor that has been waiting a very long time for a comeback.
Per Meijer, the Bainbridge Township supercenter officially opens Wednesday, May 6 and becomes the retailer’s 59th store in Ohio. The company says the location will include in-store bakery and deli operations, a full-service pharmacy with drive-through, apparel and home departments, a garden center and the usual slate of supercenter staples.
On April 29, during a community tour ahead of opening day, store director Drew Manning walked visitors through the bakery and pharmacy as employees practiced building fresh-donut displays. Managers also presented a $10,000 donation to Kenston Local Schools, and county property records show Meijer Stores Limited Partnership bought the 16.45-acre parcel for about $4.9 million in October 2023, according to the Record-Courier.
Neighbors And Nostalgia
Meijer is clearly aware of the emotional baggage that comes with building on an old amusement-park site. Entrance signs and an interior mural brand the area as the “Geauga Lake District,” a nod the company says is meant to honor the property’s roller-coaster past rather than erase it.
Local leaders, including Kenston Local Schools Superintendent Bruce Willingham, told reporters the store is expected to bring jobs and fresh momentum to the SR-43 corridor. Township officials say ongoing infrastructure work nearby is being lined up to support more development once the supercenter is up and running, according to News 5 Cleveland.
Part Of A Larger Redevelopment Push
The Meijer site sits inside a joint economic development district, or JEDD, created by Aurora and Bainbridge Township in 2020 to guide redevelopment of the former Geauga Lake parkland. The agreement lets the communities share income-tax revenue and utility responsibilities, a framework local officials say has opened the door to mixed-use housing, additional retail and a public-park plan on Aurora’s side of the lake, according to the Geauga County Maple Leaf.
Meijer says the Bainbridge Township store will add a mix of part-time and full-time jobs and that hiring is underway, with local applicants directed to the company’s careers page. The retailer also notes its community programs, including in-store giving campaigns, will roll out at the new location as part of its local outreach, according to Meijer.
To kick off opening day, Meijer plans giveaways and promotions for early birds. The first 200 customers through the door at 6 a.m. will receive a Meijer gift card, and other festivities are listed on the company’s event page. Township officials say the supercenter is just the first visible piece of a larger, long-awaited transformation of the old Geauga Lake property, finally turning years of vacant land into active commercial and park uses, according to News 5 Cleveland.
