Business & Tech
Retailer Readies for 2014 Petaluma Return
Construction crews have already starting preparing a 9.5-acre parcel for a Friedman's Home Improvement store expected to open in March at Deer Creek Village.
The eagerly anticipated return of a popular home improvement store is starting to take shape.
Construction crews earlier this month starting preparing a 9.5-acre parcel for a Friedman's Home Improvement store's opening at Deer Creek Village in March, the North Bay Business Journal reports.
The opening will mark a return to the city where the family-owned company started in 1946.
Find out what's happening in Petalumafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Petaluma Friedman's store will be the company's fourth - with all in Sonoma County (the others are in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and Ukiah).
The store will employ about 100.
Find out what's happening in Petalumafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The 80,000-square foot Friedman's store will anchor a 315,000-square foot development. The store will feature a 20,000-square foot garden center and a 35,000-square foot lumber and supply shed.
The company will occupy space originally slated for a Lowe's Home Improvement, but the retail giant pulled out of a deal with the city, citing Petaluma regulatory hurdles the company described as overly burdensome in a Santa Rosa Press Democrat report.
The Friedman's opening will mark the store's return to Petaluma for the first time since 1976.
“The company was founded here, so we feel like we’re coming home again,” Barry Friedman, the company's President and CEO told the Business Journal.
