Don’t blame Fred Meyer for closure

Published 1:30 am Thursday, December 4, 2025

I was a retail grocery story worker for 45 yeas, and I feel the need to speak up about the closing of the Fred Meyer store in south Everett.

I’m not for or against the closing, but it sounds like there are some residents and city officials unwilling to look at the whole picture. The hard reality is this: Retail stores, grocery or otherwise, are there to make a profit large enough to keep the doors open and small enough to keep the customers coming back.

Businesses can come and go as they please, but they don’t need to show you their bottom line or their spreadsheets. As for groceries, the profit margin is 1 percent to 3 percent. It doesn’t take a lot of shoplifting to make a negative impact on the bottom line. Why do you think toothpaste and underwear are kept under lock and key?

Hire more security? Add that on to our already high prices. As for crime statistics in the area, those are reported crimes. Who know how much walks out the door? I remember the days when shoplifters could be detained between the check-stand and the front door by store personnel. That practice was understandably stopped for safety reasons; too many guns on the streets.

I think the argument for the closure creating a food desert is a stretch. There is a Safeway store about a mile north and a Grocery Outlet about a mile south. If Everett had the tax dollars to keep crime and gang activity under control in the area maybe Fred Meyer wouldn’t have closed its doors.

Robin Olson

Everett