MY-TE-FINE merchant

Shoppers adored the friendly man in the bow tie at grand openings of Fred Meyer's big one-stop shopping centers. Meyer's closest associates knew him better as domineering, brilliant, single-minded, abrassive -- and sometimes unexpectedly compassionate. MY-TE-FINE merchant probes the mind of this tireless, self-taught entrepreneur and provides an insider's view of the company that reshaped 20th century shopping. This richly-detailed biography explores little-known aspects of Meyer's life -- his business setbacks, fractured family life and his beliefs in reincarnation and the power of mind-over-matter. For almost 50 years, the MY-TE-FINE house brand was a part of Pacific Northwest lexicon as Fred Meyer Inc. expanded throughout the region.