The owner of Thompson’s Log Gift and Jewelry is planning to retire after 47 years of operation in Soldotna.
Owner Billy Jo, who goes by BJ, Thompson and her husband Bill opened the shop in 1968 when their daughter, current store manager Debbie Jackson, needed a job to get extra high school credits.
The storefront is located across from Soldotna Creek Park but Jackson said that wasn’t their original location.
Jackson: “Everybody always asks me, where does ‘log’ come from? Any you know the J & H Sewing and Vacuum, it’s a log building. Well that belonged to my mom and dad, my dad built that building and it used to have teen club dances in it and in one small end where the computer place is, was the gift shop.”
The current gift shop was built in 1970 by the family and was the last remaining full service gas station until the family decided to pull the pumps in 2007.
Jackson said her father Bill passed away in 2008, leaving a legacy in Soldotna.
Jackson: “He started raising funds to build the hospital, he also was the one that wanted the borough building in Soldotna and he really rallied for that. He also was one of the first volunteer ambulance drivers in Soldotna for years.”
BJ was instrumental in helping the City of Soldotna move from fourth-class village to first-class city.
BJ said the family has decided to close rather than sell the business because it has always been family owned.
BJ: “Everyone from my grandsons, my great-grandkids, my granddaughters, their wives, my great grandsons wives, every one was in the business with us. They worked some part, sometime in their life, in the shop. And that was absolutely a perfect setting for me, I loved it.”
The family enjoyed providing top quality service and products to the community which BJ said was emboldened by meeting so many people vacationing and providing a pleasant feel to the city.
BJ: “It’s busy, it’s active, it’s vibrant, and the people are happy. They’re just coming and going and they’re experiencing things they’d never saw or even thought about experiencing before. And so that makes a really good relationship.”
Thompson’s Log Gift and Jewelry will operate through October.