Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer (not to be confused with Frederik Gerhard Hendrik Meijer, former chairman of the Meijer superstore chain, which is based in Michigan, with stores in the Midwest). The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home improvement center, garden center, electronics store, toy store, sporting goods store, and more under one roof.

Fred Meyer stores are located in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. Before the company's merger with Kroger in October 1998, it traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FMY. Although the company is now an entity of Kroger, the stores are still branded Fred Meyer, and the western region of The Kroger Company is headquartered in Portland.

Fred Meyer is sometimes known as "Freddy's", a nickname the company was given by its customers and which is used in its advertising. For a number of years, the company has used the marketing slogan What's on your list today? You'll find it at Fred Meyer! or, more simply, What's on your list today? in its advertising.

Fred G. Meyer

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.

Early life

Born Frederick Grubmeyer in Germany in 1886, Meyer came to the United States with his parents and older brother, William, at a very early age. The family settled in Brooklyn, where Meyer later worked in his father's grocery store.

Career

Leaving home at the age of 19, he traveled through the American West, prospecting for gold near Nome, Alaska. Relocating to Seattle in 1906, Meyer worked for a small grocery and the Grand Union Tea Company until 1909, when he moved to Portland, Oregon.

In 1910, Meyer's brother William and his family moved to Portland. William and Fred managed the Mission Tea Company, which rented a stall at the City Public Market. Thereafter, Fred established a separate business using horse-drawn wagons to deliver coffee, tea, and spices to Portland residents and groceries to nearby logging camps and farms. By 1911, Meyer was managing Mission Tea, and after a dispute with William, he acquired a new partner and renamed the business the Java Coffee Company. Sometime after arriving in Portland, Frederick Grubmeyer shortened his name to Fred G. Meyer; a 2001 Oregonian article said the change was made "for convenience and maybe to save money on signs".

Fred Meyer (wrestler)

Frederick "Fred" Julius Meyer (May 17, 1900 – March 12, 1983) was an American wrestler who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Meyer, who was Jewish was born in Chicago and died in Los Angeles.

In 1920 he won the bronze medal in the freestyle wrestling heavyweight class.

As part of a trend in which religious and ethnic organizations used their facilities to develop competitive athletes, Meyer was one of a number of national champions whose skills were fostered at the Chicago Hebrew Institute. Meyer, who had been wrestling for the Chicago Hebrew Institute since he was nine years old, joined Walter Mauer of the Institute at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp, Belgium, marking the first time that Jewish athletes representing a Jewish club had been selected for the U.S. team. Dr. George Eisen of Nazareth College included Meyer on his list of Jewish Olympic Medalists.

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