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Fred G. Meyer (February 21, 1886 – September 2, 1978) was an American businessman who founded the Oregon-based Fred Meyer store chain, which had 63 stores in four western states at the time of his death. He was known for successfully introducing several innovative marketing concepts.
Fred G. Meyer (1886–1978) During a Portland business career that spanned nearly seventy years, Fred Meyer used self-taught entrepreneurial skills to rise from selling coffee door-to-door in 1909 to being a national leader of a self-service, one-stop-shopping retail empire.
Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. operates the third-largest group of supercenters in the United States. It has approximately 130 stores, ranging from 130,000 to 200,000 square feet in size, that provide over 225,000 food, apparel, and general merchandise products to shoppers in the Northwest.
In many ways, the story of Fred G. Meyer and Fred Meyer, Inc. mirrors the story of the expansion and development of the city of Portland from a small, rugged, Western town to a booming metropolis. Follow the story of Fred Meyer from its humble beginnings to its expansion across the West.
Who was Fred Meyer? Fred G. Meyer (originally Frederick Grubmeyer) came to Portland, Oregon in 1908 when he was 22 years old. Drawing on his experience working for his family’s grocery business, Mr. Meyer began selling coffee from a horse-drawn cart to workers at farms and lumber camps.
Fred Meyer is an American chain of hypermarket superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, United States, by Fred G. Meyer. The stores operate in the northwest U.S., with locations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company was acquired by Kroger in 1998, though the stores are still branded Fred Meyer.
This oral history interview with Fred G. Meyer was conducted by Gerry Pratt on August 25, 1970. In this interview, Meyer discusses the reasons he settled in Portland, Oregon, in 1910. He talks about the history of Fred Meyer, Inc., including the growth of the company.
