PORTLAND, Ore. – Fred Meyer announced Friday that the company has decided to phase out the sales of Firearms and ammunition.
In a statement Fred Meyer representatives said:
“Fred Meyer has made a business decision to exit the firearms category. The company is currently working on plans to responsibly phase out sales of firearms and ammunition. The company made the decision early last week after evaluating changing customer preferences and the fact that there have already been efforts to steadily reduce this category in Fred Meyer stores over the last several years due to softening consumer demand. More recently Fred Meyer has been transitioning away from gun departments as a result of the ongoing work to optimize space in Fred Meyer stores. The firearms category represents about $7 million annually of Fred Meyer's revenue - and sales continue to decline.”
Fred Meyer locations, which sell general merchandise, stopped selling assault-style rifles in all states except Alaska several years ago. The company said Thursday that it would "no longer accept any special-orders of these weapons in Alaska."
Fred Meyer has about 130 stores in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
USA Today contributed to this report
