when they opened the first Thrifty Acres in 1962. Meijer describes itself as a grocery chain that added general merchandise to their grocery stores in 1962. Controversies and criticism Acme Township, Michigan In February 2007, Meijer was involved in an effort to recall the elected officials of Acme Township in Grand Traverse County, because of the officials' reluctance to allow a new store along M-72 within the rural township. Meijer retained Seyferth, Spaulding and Tennyson, a Grand Rapids public relations firm, to help orchestrate the recall effort. Records indicate the PR firm retained by Meijer had arranged a meeting with a small nonprofit organization which favored the Meijer store, but had not yet formally taken a position on the recall. With the persuasion of the PR firm, the organization, known as the "Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government", formed a recall committee and began to promote the recall election. Seyferth researched the plausibility of a recall, wrote justification for the recall and oversaw the agenda for the meeting with Acme Taxpayers. The PR firm revised the organization's website and logo, devised talking points and campaign literature, and wrote ghost letters to Traverse City newspapers. The recall committee did not disclose any of the PR firm's assistance, or its affiliation with Meijer. The company was fined $190,000 for its actions. The store eventually opened in 2015, with thousands attending the long-awaited grand opening. Treatment of LGBT community Meijer scored 0% on the 2008 Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which is a measure of how U.S. companies and businesses are treating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. Meijer was one of only three companies out of over 500 graded to receive a score of 0. In 2009, Meijer's score began to improve after the company amended its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation. Other retail and grocery rivals' scores are Macy's Inc. (100%), Sears Holdings Corporation (100%), Target Corporation (100%), Whole Foods Market (90%), Kroger (75%), and Walmart (40%). By 2016, Meijer had improved their score to 85%, having a similar score to its rivals. In 2020, Meijer's score improved to a 100% with the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which joined 680 major U.S. businesses that also scored a 100% that year. Firing of a Christian employee The federal government sued Meijer on behalf of a former employee for violating her civil rights by firing her because