Longtime Petaluman, of 50 years, Bill Zitkovich, who was a cutomer back when the original Friedman's was on East Washington, chats with new Frideman's employe, Gloria Batemon who has been working for Friedman's for a month and applied because she lives across the street from the store, as he makes his purchase during the soft opening of the new Fridaman's Home Improvement Center in Petaluma on Wednesday morning.

Friedman's is home at last and open for business

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Friedman's Home Improvement makes its return to Petaluma with its 83,000-square-foot store on South McDowell Boulevard opening to shoppers this week.

"Petaluma, thank you for leaving the light on for us," Harry Friedman said during a sneak peek party of the store on April 30. "You will not be disappointed."

During the party, hundreds of guests explored the new store, with its expansive kitchen department, garden center stuffed with plants and lawn gnomes and aisle after aisle of construction equipment and home improvement products. For attendee Terry Krout, seeing the new Petaluma store was especially poignant, since he was there the night the original store burned to the ground 37 years ago.

"It was a long time ago but obviously it left a big impression," said the local resident, who was a new firefighter with the Petaluma Fire Department on the night of Jan. 2, 1978, when the call came in shortly after midnight.

The fire began in the Acme Sheet Metal Warehouse on East Washington Street, and when Krout arrived by fire engine with sirens blaring, he said it looked like "an X-ray," describing the dark structure against the garish glow of the flames. As he and another firefighter proceeded into the burning building, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"I had leather gloves on, and my gloves were beginning to smoke," he recalled. The heat was so intense, firefighters had to pull back. Crews from all over the North Bay rushed to the scene, but by the time the fire was extinguished, little remained of the original Friedman's building, which was the flagship store opened by brothers Harry, Benny and Joe Friedman in 1946.

With a successful store in Santa Rosa, the brothers focused their efforts on that location following the fire, but always held onto the dream of returning to the city that they first called home. As developer Merlone Geier Partners made plans to build the Deer Creek Village shopping center on McDowell Boulevard, Friedman's Home Improvement signed on as its anchor tenant, and was the first store in the 10.5-acre complex to open for customers. It has already hired 140 employees to do everything from stock shelves to assist customers in designing their bathroom or kitchen.

Unlike Friedman's Santa Rosa or Sonoma stores, the Petaluma building features a variety of green design elements, including a living wall of plants with a rainwater harvesting system and concrete made from recycled material. There are plans to add solar panels in the near future.

More stores are expected to open in the Deer Creek Village center this month, beginning with Habit Burger in late June, Togo's in July, Mary's Pizza Shack's second Petaluma location in August and City Sports could open as early as September. Merlone Geier is in talks with three other businesses interested in the shopping complex, but has not disclosed which stores.

(Contact Emily Charrier at Emily.charrier@arguscourier.com)

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