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Business owner reflects on life before big growth

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Contributed by: Steve Shultz/YourHub.com on 3/25/2008

When Bob Friedlander's Great Lakes Marine opened up in Littleton in 1984, the community of Highlands Ranch was just beginning to grow.

Today his business, located at 12294 Mead Way in Littleton, is just across the street from the westernmost part of Highlands Ranch, separated only by Santa Fe Drive.

Looking back, Friedlander said Highlands Ranch didn't extend past Broadway when his shop opened. He started Great Lakes Marine in 1976, straight out of college. The original location was a 2,000-square-foot building in Englewood.

"It was just us and the concrete batch plant," Friedlander said. "Everything else was not around. Highlands Ranch was still on the other side of Broadway. We were out in the country, and that's the way we had intended it. There was nothing between here and Santa Fe. It's amazing."

With Highlands Ranch to the east and Roxborough to the west, Friedlander said Great Lakes Marine wound up right in the middle of two rapidly growing communities.

"The traffic on Santa Fe now is stupid," he said.

Friedlander, 54, said Great Lakes Marine started as a one-man show, with only himself doing repairs. The staff grew to four in 1984 and they started selling boats, he said. The business now has eight employees, with Friedlander and his son, Kellen, 24, managing.

Friedlander said he considers Great Lakes Marine "a highly personalized" business.

"We know everybody," he said. "Our customers know all of us. The big deal for us is what the customers think. It's the only important thing."

Friedlander's daughter, Brynn, will vouch for him. She said every year her father organizes a Christmas party -- the annual "Great Lakes Crab Fest" -- for their customers.

"They buy crab and cheesecake for 3,000 people," she said. "He really does care for his clients. Anyone who walks through the door, he knows their names and their kids' names. It's definitely a family atmosphere."

Friedlander said they sell big-name boats, namely Cobalt, Boston Whaler and Nautiques. The 12,000-square-foot building includes a 6,500-square-foot boat room. But he said Great Lakes Marine specializes in repair and service.

"We're about service," he said. "That's where we started and that's what we're always going to be. That's what makes us different."

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