Fred Meyer Makes Major Acquisitions

Sat., Nov. 8, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

A grocery empire founded when Fred Meyer began peddling coffee door to door in 1909 announced a $4.8 billion deal to create the nation’s fourth-largest supermarket chain.

Fred Meyer Inc. said it will buy Ralphs Grocery Co. of Los Angeles and Quality Food Centers Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., pushing the grocery business into the wave of consolidations that have swept others in the retail industry.

The acquisitions will create a $15 billion multiregional supermarket chain with 88,000 employees and more than 800 food stores in 14 states. It also will make the chain the market leader in Los Angeles, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Albuquerque, N.M., and No. 2 in Portland and Phoenix.

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Fred Meyer Makes Major Acquisitions

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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