Seattle Area Fred Meyer Stores

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marshd1000
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Seattle Area Fred Meyer Stores

Post by marshd1000 »

I used to work for Fred Meyer at the old White Center store that was formerly a Marketime Drug. I have been told conflicting things about Fred Meyer's grocery operations in Seattle. I had been told a few years ago on this site that Market Basket didn't exist in Seattle. But when I worked for Fred Meyer, I had met someone who had told me that Market Basket was one of the operations that Lucky acquired to get into the Seattle area. The White Center Fred Meyer had a Lucky grocery next to it for years. That later became a Thriftway then a Larry's Market until the complex was torn down for a discount version of Larry's then a Fred Meyer Marketplace (now Safeway).

I do not know if Seattle Market Baskets were related to the others or not. But here is a link to Fred Meyer's history: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company- ... story.html

To answer your questions about the location of Fred Meyer at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, it was at the OLD Bartell's location inside the current mall. I don't know if Marketime and Market Basket were related. But I do remember being in the Crossroads Fred Meyer in the last few years of its' life. In the later years of this location, there was NOT a apparel department. Since the Overlake location was fairly close, the apparel dept was removed and a Music Market store was added. Music Market at that time was a free standing record store that Fred Meyer developed across the street from the Aurora store. It was in a old Fred Meyer-Marketime Catalog Showroom. I believe that Crossroads was the first Fred Meyer to have a Music Market inside the store. I think Burien might have been the third. Getting back to Crossroads. Fred Meyer also added a Fred Meyer Jewelers outlet at the entrance to the interior of the mall. There was also a nutrition center. All these departments were in the location where the apparel department had been. Another weird thing about this location is that after Crossroads became enclosed, they had never let Fred Meyer put it's sign on the inside of the mall. There was just a blank wall with the doors into the store and just the signage on the doors.
Last edited by marshd1000 on 11 Aug 2008 12:48, edited 1 time in total.
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Brian Lutz
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Re: Looking for info on Market Basket stores in the Seattle area

Post by Brian Lutz »

So the conversion of this store to a Fred Meyer from a Marketime predated the opening of the Overlake store then? About the only thing I have really found on that subject is some 1976-1977 newspaper ads in the Bellevue American that list both an Overlake and a Crossroads location and at some point I need to try to figure out the timeline for that.

Also, wandering off the topic a little bit, you say that Crossroads was converted to an enclosed mall. Roughly when did this happen? I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that the shopping center was built in various phases (only a small portion of what exists there now existed when the place first opened in late 1963.)
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marshd1000
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Re: Looking for info on Market Basket stores in the Seattle area

Post by marshd1000 »

The Overlake aka Bellevue Fred Meyer originally was acquired about 1975 along with other stores that had been part of Leslies aka Valu-Mart. In the early to mid 1970's Fred Meyer started labeling Marketime as Fred Meyer-Marketime. So for a few years, Fred Meyer was getting people used to its' name being out there. To answer the question, there was probably a 2 year period that the Marketime stores (aka Fred Meyer-Marketime) had separate banners. In 1977, the Fred Meyer-Marketime banner was retired and the stores were re-bannered as Fred Meyer. The Crossroads store did not simply become "Fred Meyer" until 2 years after the accquisition of the former Overlake "Leslies".
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Brian Lutz
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Re: Looking for info on Market Basket stores in the Seattle area

Post by Brian Lutz »

Wait, so the Overlake Fred Meyer didn't originally open as a Fred Meyer? If that's the case, then the store has probably been around for far longer than I would have thought. I've seen ads for a Valu-Mart in Bellevue in early 60s newspapers, and need to go back and determine if the store in question is in fact what became the current Overlake Fred Meyer. I should probably try to date the opening of the Kirkland store as well, but I suspect that one came much later (probably eighties, since I haven't seen any references to it in late Seventies papers.)

Something tells me I'm going to need to hit the Bellevue American archives again to try to sort all this out and try to put together some sort of timeline. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and start a new thread for Crossroads over in the shopping centers board, since I'd definitely be interested in finding out whatever I can about that.
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marshd1000
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Re: Looking for info on Market Basket stores in the Seattle area

Post by marshd1000 »

The Overlake Fred Meyer originally started its' life as a White Front as did the Burien Fred Meyer. Both stores were "twins", although the Burien store had the trademark curved roof and Overlake didn't. White Front was bought by Valu Mart about 1972 .... roughly. Valu Mart then converted from a discount store to more of a department store layout and became Leslies before being bought by Fred Meyer. There may have been a Valu Mart in a different location in Bellevue before opening at Overlake, but I am not aware. The Totem Lake Kirkland store opened about 1980. It was the first "new build" Fred Meyer in King County. I was working for Fred Meyer at the time and attended the grand opening which featured football great, Joe Namath.
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Re: Seattle Area Fred Meyer Stores

Post by Groceteria »

Subsequent White Front discussion has been moved here:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... =29&t=2419
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