Fred Meyer Marketplaces

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Super S
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Fred Meyer Marketplaces

Post by Super S »

In Oregon and Washington, there are several Fred Meyer Marketplace (basically a Fred Meyer without a clothing section) stores. All of the ones I have seen were at one time conventional Fred Meyer stores. Did Fred Meyer ever open a new marketplace style store, or are all of the marketplace stores conversions from a conventional Fred Meyer store?
marshd1000
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Post by marshd1000 »

In the Greater Seattle area, the Fred Meyer Marketplaces were all stores that were acquired from other retailers. In Seattle's White Center district, there was a Marketplace store that was originally a store owned by Larry's Markets called, "Lobucks". That store was eventually sold to Safeway. Interestingly enough, this site had a older non-food Fred Meyer and a small Larry's Market, which were all torn down. There was also a location in Silverdale, WA which I believe was a Food Pavilion store. It is no longer a Fred Meyer but it I don't think it is a food store. In Kent, WA there was a Marketplace store that was originally a Stock Market Foods. This store was eventually sold to Albertsons. Stock Market was an independent warehouse chain that was acquired by QFC. QFC turned some of them into QFC stores. Some of the stores were sold to other retailers. Then there were some that were kept as QFC's discount division. After the QFC, Ralphs, Fred Meyer merger, the remaining Stock Market Foods became Fred Meyer Marketplaces. The remaining Fred Meyer Marketplaces that were Stock Market Foods (in the Seattle area)are in Spanaway, Shelton, and South 19th Street in Tacoma. All of these are still open.
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Post by marshd1000 »

PS, I should mention that there are TWO Fred Meyer's on S. 19th in Tacoma. One was the original S. 19th store at 19th and Stevens Street. The Marketplace is at 19th and Mildred. They are roughly 20 blocks apart.
Super S
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Post by Super S »

I guess I meant to ask: Did Fred Meyer ever build a NEW store from the ground up which was a Marketplace and not a conventional Fred Meyer store?

I remember Stock Market Foods. They built a brand new store in Longview, Washington around 89 or 90. They were open about a year or year and a half before they closed. I remember they had one of the strangest store layouts with aisles going diagonally. Not long after, Randy Sinnett opened a second Sinnett's Market Place store there which closed a few months ago, to be followed by the closure of his original store in Longview on Commerce Ave.
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Post by marshd1000 »

Actually, I just remembered that there is ONE new-build Fred Meyer Marketplace. It is in Palmer, AK. I have not been to Alaska but I read online newspapers from there. Anyway, I believe that Fred Meyer may have wanted to put a full line store there, they may be testing the waters. There may be room for it to expand. But I am not sure if they built it to accomodate possible expansion. Also I think that they may be building in Homer, AK with a eye on expanding the building.
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Post by tkaye »

marshd1000 wrote:There was also a location in Silverdale, WA which I believe was a Food Pavilion store. It is no longer a Fred Meyer but it I don't think it is a food store.
This store became a Best Buy in 2001 after being vacant for a while after Fred Meyer left. The Silverdale store even had an electronics department/Music Market -- did (or do) any of the other Marketplaces have that?
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Post by marshd1000 »

The former White Center Fred Meyer Marketplace had a electronics/Music Market department. The other Marketplace stores that were Stock Market Foods didn't have those sections. But I have been in the Stadium Fred Meyer Marketplace in Portland, which is now a Fred Meyer Northwest Best. That store was a former full-line Fred Meyer. As a Northwest Best store, it has a electronics department. As a Marketplace, it had that too. Then I believe that is was also a Music Market. However, I believe that Fred Meyer retired the Music Market name for it's music sections. I am also guessing that the Fred Meyer Marketplaces that were full-line stores probably had those sections. I am also guessing that the former Marketplace stores in Phoenix probably had them as I believe that at one time, the Smitty's stores there were like smaller full-line Fred Meyers from the 1970's. I believe that Fry's Marketplaces have electronic sections. I am also guessing that the Fairbanks Marketplace store has one too. But I don't know for sure as I have not been there. But an interesting sidenote. The Fairbanks Fred Meyer Marketplace was the original Fred Meyer in Fairbanks. This store is opened in the late 70's or early 80's. But the interesting thing about it is that it is one of the few Fred Meyer stores that were built by Fred Meyer without a food department. At that time, the only other Fred Meyer in Alaska was in Anchorage. That store was a non-food Fred Meyer that was acquired from Leslies/Valu-Mart. The first Fred Meyer with food in Alaska was built in Juneau about 1982 to 1984
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Post by Super S »

The two Fred Meyer Marketplace stores in Vancouver, WA started life as ful-line traditional Fred Meyer stores. Worth noting is that they had two seperate buildings, with one housing the home improvement & garden center, the other had everything else. When they became Marketplace stores they dropped the clothing section, and by that time Fred Meyer had scaled back their home improvement section by getting rid of stuff like lumber. So they moved everything into one building.

There still is one Fred Meyer in Portland operating with two seperate buildings, at 82nd & Foster.

I remember in the mid-80s when Fred Meyer first entered Boise, they bought the Grand Central chain and remodeled the stores into Fred Meyer but without food departments. One on Overland was in a strip mall with a Buttrey store (later Albertsons) and one on Fairview was in a building that also had an Albertsons. Both stores were eventually replaced by new Fred Meyer stores nearby.
ej

Post by ej »

I live in Palmer...

This store opened in 2004 in downtown Palmer, on land Kroger purchased from a Baptist church. Some people in town wanted a full size store. The current site isn't large enough to accommodate one, however. The company did build the store slightly larger than they had originally. This store has an electronics section, pharmacy, a Starbuck's, and also carries some housewares and men's underwear (there was no place in town to buy any previously). Incidentally, Wal-Mart bought land in town for a store this last year.

After Fred Meyer started building, the Palmer City Council passed a new set of regulations regarding big-box stores.

I think Fred Meyer's plans to build in Homer are on hold. Homer also recently created a new set of regulations regarding big-box retailers. I haven't heard anything about it recently.
marshd1000 wrote:Actually, I just remembered that there is ONE new-build Fred Meyer Marketplace. It is in Palmer, AK. I have not been to Alaska but I read online newspapers from there. Anyway, I believe that Fred Meyer may have wanted to put a full line store there, they may be testing the waters. There may be room for it to expand. But I am not sure if they built it to accomodate possible expansion. Also I think that they may be building in Homer, AK with a eye on expanding the building.
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Post by StoreLiker2006 »

In the Portland area, there are a few FM Marketplaces that began life as conventional Freddy's:

Glisan
Corvallis
Rockwood
Raleigh Hills
Burlingame

~Ben
Super S
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Post by Super S »

StoreLiker2006 wrote:In the Portland area, there are a few FM Marketplaces that began life as conventional Freddy's:

Glisan
Corvallis
Rockwood
Raleigh Hills
Burlingame

~Ben
The Rockwood store actually has been closed for several years now.
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Post by StoreLiker2006 »

Super S wrote:The Rockwood store actually has been closed for several years now.


Yeah... I understood that. But for the last couple of years it had been opened (1999-2003), it was designated as a Marketplace.
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timbabcock
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Post by timbabcock »

marshd1000 wrote:The former White Center Fred Meyer Marketplace had a electronics/Music Market department.
This store was originally called Marketime. Fred Meyer acquired the chain in the 1960s. It was the first chain they bought in the Seattle market. There were three of them White Center, Broadway, and Lake City. There may have been more but those were the three dominant ones. They had no grocery sections. They were stictly clothing and general merchandise. The White Center location had a Lucky next to it which would later become a Larry's Market. Around 1978 the name was change to Fred Meyer. None of the original stores are standing today but there is a Fred Meyer store at the Lake City site that was rebuilt from the ground up about eight to ten years ago which does contain a grocery section.

Fred Meyer Marketplace grocery stores have never been built from the ground up in the Puget Sound market. There usually in locations where they have a QFC nearby to distinquish them. For example Gig Harbor has a Marketplace on on side of Highway 16 in the Olympic Village Shopping Center. This grocery store originally started out as a Food King (FYI) while the other side of the highway has a QFC in a location that used to be a Piggly Wiggly. Especially Spanaway. I think at one time there were three Stock Market Foods on that highway before QFC took them over.
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Post by Super S »

StoreLiker2006 wrote:
Super S wrote:The Rockwood store actually has been closed for several years now.


Yeah... I understood that. But for the last couple of years it had been opened (1999-2003), it was designated as a Marketplace.
I happened to be in the Rockwood area today, and, sadly, the Rockwood Fred Meyer building has been demolished. It didn't look like anything new was being built in its place.
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Post by marshd1000 »

Getting back to Marketime Drugs, there were also locations on Seattle's Empire Way (now MLK Way), Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, Gateway Shopping Center in Shoreline and Holman Road in Seattle's Crown Hill area. All of these locations went away, but the Holman Road location came back into Fred Meyer ownership when they bought QFC. The Holman Road loaction was acquired by Art's Food Centers. Eventually Art's only had the Holman Road location and that was acquired by QFC.
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