Retail profile: Friedman's hits a milestone

In 1946, when Benny and Joe Friedman returned home from the war, they envisioned opening their own business in Sonoma County, serving the neighborhood families, ranchers and farmers they grew up with. That year, they opened the doors of their first store, on the banks of the Petaluma River.

Originally from Santa Rosa, the Friedmans lived on a farm across the street from what is now the location of their Santa Rosa Avenue store. Like many others growing up during the depression, they tackled household wiring, plumbing and construction projects themselves. They also learned how to repair, refurbish and rebuild almost anything on the farm, all skills they continued to improve upon throughout their lives.



When they began their business, Benny and Joe –along with their just-out-of-high school kid brother Harry – made a point to carry those supplies they knew to be most dependable and useful for projects around home, garden and farm. Along the way, they became an invaluable source for gardening, repair and building tips. Most of their customers were the original “DIYers” – used to tackling their home and farm jobs with hands-on experience, common sense and a little advice from neighbors and their local hardware store. In fact, that same DIY spirit prompted the Friedman brothers to begin restoring and refurbishing appliances in the 1940’s, long before “recycling” was a buzz word.

Over the decades, Friedman's opened new stores and expanded their vision to include supplying their customers with outdoor patio furniture, holiday decorations, home accessories and a well-stocked nursery of plants and amendments chosen for the particular weather and soils of the region. Their stores spread out across the reaches of Northern California with a growing core of faithful customers from Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Marin, as well as Sonoma, counties. Over the years, Friedman’s has grown to become one of the largest, locally-owned home improvement stores in California.

Their volunteerism and generosity have touched so many lives that in 1989, Sonoma Business Magazine readers voted Benny Friedman one of “50 Who Shaped Our Century” in Sonoma County. Almost 30 years later,Bill Friedman was honored as “Citizen of the Year” by the non-profit organization, Social Advocates for Youth. Giving back to the community has become a treasured family value for decades.

Ken Dunham is executive director of the West Coast Lumber & Building Material Association.