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After 55-year hiatus, Fredericksen's Hardware is back in original family's hands
SAN FRANCISCO - When Dennis Drobisch was a boy, he would walk past his grandfather's old hardware store on Fillmore Street here and say to himself, "Some day, I'm going to get it back." Forty years later, he did just that.
Fredericksen's Hardware was built in 1896 by Drobisch's grandfather, a former cable car conductor who sold paint, roofing shingles, lumber and hardware during San Francisco's boom-town days. The store survived the earthquake of 1906 and the Great Depression, but it didn't weather the untimely death of Theodore Fredericksen in 1940. The family sold the business in 1945 but held on to the building. Drobisch grew up in the same Marina District neighborhood, listening to his grandmother's stories about the family's hardware store. He even bought supplies for his go carts at Fredericksen's. "One of the salesmen there helped me build them," Drobisch recalled.
Fredericksen's Hardware went through several owners during the next few decades. One individual, James Hill, ran the business from 1976 to 2000. Meanwhile, Drobisch worked for a hardware distributor and spent nine years at Goodman's Lumber, a landmark San Francisco dealer that closed in 2000. That same year, Hill's lease came up for renewal at Fredericksen's. Drobisch, who has been rehabbing old buildings around town, bought the business from Hill. Most of the staff stayed on, including two employees with 20 years experience each, and another who recently retired after a 30-year stint.
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