Friedman's Inc. - Early History

Early History

The history of Friedman's may be traced to two brothers, Abraham and Benjamin Friedman, in south Georgia. In 1909, a merchant named Sam Segall came to the town of Savannah on the coast of Georgia, where he founded a jewelry store. In 1920, he died, and his two nephews Abraham and Benjamin took over the business. Because their name was Friedman, they changed the name of Segall's store. At some point Abraham moved away from Savannah, heading north to Augusta, on the Georgia-South Carolina line. Benjamin stayed behind, and in time they split up their holdings, which consisted of seven stores.

By all appearances the parting was amicable, and the two agreed that neither would interfere in the other's territory until their companies had grown more. Thus out of the line of Abraham came A. A. Friedman, an Augusta-based jewelry chain with 127 stores in 1997; and from the line of Benjamin came Friedman's Inc. For generations, it appeared that there would be no conflict between the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Benjamin, because both were family-owned businesses.

However, by the late 1990s, Benjamin's former stores would no longer belonged to Benjamin's children. By contrast, A. A. Friedman remained under the control of the Augusta, Georgia Friedmans. Ultimately the two companies would clash over the right to the Friedman name, but before the owners of Friedman's took their troops into the fray, an empire would have to be built.