Herman Erickson was one of seven sons born to Swedish immigrant parents. During the 1920's, he started in business by trading his farm for a general store. Though Herman Erickson focused on groceries and general merchandising throughout his career, along the way he joined his brothers in purchasing a bankrupt refinery - which, in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930's, the family dismantled and reassembled in Minnesota. The refinery was renamed Northwestern Refining Company. Although the refinery was sold in 1970 to Ashland, the operation sparked an interest in fuel retailing. In 1950, Herman Erickson and his son, Claire Erickson, purchased their first gas station in Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1981, a decision was made to split off the petroleum operations from the grocery operations. Claire and his son, David, already a full-time member of the family firm, had little to fall back on except their business knowledge and good name. yet it proved to be enough. By 1983, convenience store operation had grown into a wholly owned subsidiary, Freedom Valu Centers. In recent years, Erickson Oil also has switched from an exclusively rural operation to a chain that serves metropolitan and suburban markets. By placing 40 percent of stores in urban areas and the remainder in rural locations, David believes, "Our company benefits from the geographic diversity. When some markets are down, others are up, so it averages out our margins and keeps us consistent"