Tacoma shoppers are scrambling after learning one of the city’s last remaining Fred Meyer stores is closing.
In a statement, Fred Meyer said the store at 6901 S 19th Street will permanently close in January.
“It’s my home away from home, several times a week,” Kathy Newschwander said.
This is the second Tacoma Fred Meyer location to close since 2025. One location remains inside city limits.
“This is like family to me because I have used it for so many years,” Newschwander said.
The decision left shoppers like Newschwander, who lives about two minutes away, feeling lost.
“Just disappointed,” she said. “I wish they would stay.”
In a statement, Fred Meyer said the closure came after careful consideration. A spokesperson referred shoppers to other locations around the Tacoma area.
“We will probably have to start using Whole Foods a little bit more, or Trader Joe’s,” Steve Mesanko, a Fred Meyer shopper, said. “We will probably have to go a little bit further to the other Fred Meyer that is a mile and a half down the road. It is a loss for us.”
The labor union UFCW 367 condemned the decision in a statement, writing that the closure will affect around 100 store employees and limit food options for thousands of residents.
Tacoma Mayor Anders Ibsen echoed concerns about creating a food desert, and wrote in a statement that the closure was a “gut punch.”
He pledged to work with the city to bring a new store into the old Fred Meyer space as quickly as possible, though it is not yet clear what exactly that new store would be.
“It’s nothing for us to get in our car and go five to seven minutes down the road, but for someone who doesn’t necessarily have a car or whose transportation is a little more limited, they might be more limited in their options,” Mesanko said.
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