Fred Meyer
| File:Fred Meyer logo.svg Logo used since 2012 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (hypermarket) |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Founder | Fred G. Meyer |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon , United States |
Area served | Northwestern United States (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska) |
| Products | Groceries, pharmacy, banking, apparel, jewelry, home furnishings, hardware, garden supplies, electronics, dining, footwear, sporting goods, toys |
| Owner | Kroger |
| Parent | Kroger |
Fred Meyer, Inc. is a prominent American hypermarket chain operating as a subsidiary of Kroger, with its headquarters located in Portland, Oregon. Concentrating its operations mainly in the northwestern United States—including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska—Fred Meyer was established in 1922 by Fred G. Meyer. The company was a pioneer in the concept of one-stop shopping, merging grocery, pharmacy, banking, apparel, jewelry, home furnishings, hardware, garden supplies, electronics, dining, footwear, sporting goods, and toys all within a single retail location. Following its acquisition by Kroger in 1998, the stores have continued to operate under the Fred Meyer name.
Additionally, Fred Meyer owns and operates Fred Meyer Jewelers.
1920s–1950s: Early Development
The inaugural Fred Meyer store launched in 1922 at the intersection of SW 5th Ave and Yamhill in Portland. It combined departments such as meat, produce, and cheese under one roof to deliver an all-encompassing shopping experience.[1]
In 1931, Fred Meyer introduced Portland's first suburban one-stop shopping center in the Hollywood District. The site was selected through market research that involved reimbursing customers for parking fees to gather their home addresses. This innovative center integrated groceries and pharmacy sections alongside home goods, off-street parking areas, fuel stations, and clothing departments. Store locations were often strategically chosen based on upcoming highway developments.[2]
In 1951, despite local resistance due to concerns over increased truck traffic, Fred Meyer constructed a large warehouse near Providence Portland Medical Center in Laurelhurst. Later on, part of this warehouse was condemned to make way for the construction of the Banfield Expressway through Sullivan's Gulch. Following this change, Fred Meyer shifted its warehouse operations to Swan Island, utilizing land previously occupied by wartime housing.[2]
1960s–1970s: Expansion and Leadership Transition
During the 1960s, Fred Meyer expanded its presence into the Seattle area by acquiring Marketime Drugs and the Spokane-based grocery wholesaler The Roundup Company. The latter owned B&B stores throughout northwest Montana as well as Consumer Warehouse Foods located in Soap Lake, Washington.
By March 1968, Fred Meyer had grown to operate 48 retail outlets across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
In 1973, the company purchased five Oregon Valu-Mart locations from Seattle-based Weisfield's, Inc. The following year saw Weisfield's leasing out its remaining stores—renamed "Leslie's"—and by 1975 Fred Meyer secured long-term leases on most of Weisfield’s 21 stores. However, some locations in Seattle and Tacoma remained under Weisfield’s leases until Kroger acquired these properties during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1975, Fred Meyer entered the Alaskan market by acquiring Leslie's/Valu-Mart stores and rebranding them under its own name. As brand awareness increased within Seattle, Marketime Drugs was rebranded as Fred Meyer-Marketime. Smaller discount retailers in Washington also leased space to Fred Meyer during this era.
In January 1976, Fred G. Meyer revealed plans for a new store and motel complex in Portland’s Gateway district to support development related to the I-205 highway project.
By 1977, Marketime had fully transitioned to the Fred Meyer brand; similarly, B&B stores in northwest Montana followed suit during the mid-1980s.
Fred G. Meyer passed away on September 2, 1978, at age 92 after remaining actively engaged with company affairs until his death. That same year, Fortune magazine ranked Fred Meyer as the 45th largest retailer in the United States based on sales figures. By 1979, the chain’s annual sales surpassed $1 billion.
1980s–1990s: Further Growth and Withdrawal from California
In 1981, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired Fred Meyer in one of their earliest significant leveraged buyout transactions. By May 1988, Fred Meyer operated a network of 99 stores spanning six states.
The 1984 acquisition of Grand Central in Salt Lake City, Utah enabled Fred Meyer to convert its Utah and Idaho outlets into Fred Meyer-branded stores, with comprehensive supermarket departments largely established by the mid-1990s. Throughout the 1990s, Fred Meyer ventured into California by opening a location in Chico. However, plans to expand into Redding and Sacramento were ultimately abandoned; the Chico store was shuttered and Sacramento properties sold off. The Redding site was repurposed as a Wal-Mart in 1996.
In 1997, Fred Meyer acquired Salt Lake City-based Smith's Food and Drug, though both companies continued to operate independently. That same year, the company also purchased Ralphs in Los Angeles, California, along with Seattle's QFC, all functioning autonomously under Fred Meyer's holding company structure. These strategic acquisitions elevated Fred Meyer to the position of the fifth-largest food and drug retailer nationwide.
During 1997, Fred Meyer transitioned its Montana stores in Columbia Falls and Kalispell to Smith's Food & Drug Stores branding while closing the Polson store. By 2001, a new Smith's store replaced the Kalispell location; meanwhile, the Columbia Falls outlet retained Fred Meyer styling but operated solely as a grocery store.
Fred Meyer itself was acquired by Cincinnati-based grocery leader Kroger in 1998. Prior to this takeover, Fred Meyer’s shares were publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FMY.
2000s–2010s: Operating as a Kroger Division
Following the acquisition, in 2000, Arizona locations formerly under Smith's—acquired through that merger—were rebranded as Fry's Marketplace. In 2004, Smith's Food and Drug assumed control of Utah-based Fred Meyer stores, rebranding them as Smith's Marketplace. Since integrating Fred Meyer into its portfolio, Kroger has worked to align operations across its brands by combining elements of Fred Meyer's practices with Kroger’s own systems to unify management and merchandising efforts.
One Capitol Hill Fred Meyer store in Seattle consolidated operations with the nearby QFC. This smaller facility specialized in personal care and general merchandise without offering food or apparel and now operates as a QFC Marketplace—a unique concept within the chain—though it is not formally signed as such.
In July 2010, Fred Meyer eliminated plastic bag usage at its ten Portland-area stores, becoming the largest regional retailer to implement this policy prior to Portland’s citywide ban on plastic bags that took effect in October 2011.
By March 2018, Fred Meyer ceased selling firearms and ammunition after initially imposing an age restriction requiring buyers to be at least 21 years old. This decision aligned with Kroger’s overarching corporate policies regarding product assortments.