First and foremost, Fred G. Meyer was a retailer with a great idea: One-Stop Shopping. But he was more than that. He was also a philosopher, semanticist and teacher the Wall Street Journal once described as "the last of the great American entrepreneurs."

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. As he watched and listened to his Customers (always a proper noun to Mr. Meyer), he began planning a completely new kind of s tore.

How One-Stop Shopping Began

In 1922, Mr. Meyer opened the first Fred Meyer store in Portland at the corner of SW 5th & Yamhill. Mr. Meyer’s vision was to give Customers more reasons to shop in his store than in any other. Before he opened his new store, Customers went to separate shops for meat, produce, cheese and other goods. Mr. Meyer placed these all under one roof and put an expert in charge of each area, setting the stage for the Fred Meyer stores we know today – stores that average 150,000 square feet and carry more than 225,000 items. Mr. Meyer’s ideas still appeal to Customers because our service, selection, quality and prices still save people time and money. With food, health & beauty care, clothes, home products, electronics and more under one roof, you can get more shopping done in one stop than at any other store.