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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1




                        CERTIFICATION OF PERIODIC REPORT
            PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

      I, Bradley J. Stinn, Chief Executive Officer, of Friedman's Inc.
certify that:

      1. I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Friedman's
Inc. for the fiscal quarter ended June 28, 2003;

      2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this Report;

      3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in the report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

      4. The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-145(e) and 15d-145(e)) and internal control over
financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f))
for the registrant and have:

      a)    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls or procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

      b)    [Paragraph omitted in accordance with SEC transition instructions
            contained in SEC Release 34-47986];

      c)    Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
            and procedures presented in this report and presented in this Report
            our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
            and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report
            based on such evaluation; and

      d)    Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
            control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
            affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
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      5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting, to
the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a)    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
            reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
            record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b)    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
            internal controls over financial reporting.



Date: August 8, 2003

                                             /s/ Bradley J.Stinn
                                             ----------------------------
                                             Bradley J. Stinn
                                             Chief Executive Officer


A signed original of this written statement required by Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been provided to Friedman's Inc. and will be
retained by Friedman's Inc. and furnished to the Securities and Exchange
Commission or its staff upon request.