After 45 years in business, Bethel’s one-stop shop for a little bit of everything, and one of Alaska’s last authorized RadioShack resellers, has closed its doors.
The metal shelves at I.D. Variety in Bethel were mostly bare on the afternoon of Aug. 30. After slashing prices throughout the summer, the Bethel landmark was closing the next day, ending a nearly 50-year run. Owner Kathy Miller listed off the hodgepodge of goods that the store stocked over the decades.
"Pet supplies, live animals, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff, Avon, toys, clothes, jewelry, RadioShack stuff, knives, houseware. A little bit of everything, just a small mom-and-pop variety store," Miller said.
The mom-and-pop label couldn’t be more fitting. Miller’s mother and father, Irv and Diane Kreider, the “I” and the “D” in the store’s name, first began their entrepreneurial journey on the Bethel riverfront in the late 1970s.
"I think my mom was bored and she wanted a little tiny shop. So they opened up ID Hobby and Petland right by the river in a small quonset hut," Miller said. "And they had pets, all small animals, and just a small little store. That's how it all got started."
Later on, Miller said that her parents established the familiar two-story yellow building on Fourth Avenue across from the AC store.
"My dad was working with [the Federal Aviation Administration], and so he just built this from [the] ground up, out of pocket, and then moved into it, quit his job, and had this whole store," Miller said.
Miller was literally born into the family business, growing up above the store and raising three children of her own in the same space.
"My grandma, Gladys Kreider, was here, and she ran it with my parents, with me, and then my kids. So it's like three to four generations of growing up in the store," Miller said. "It’s like, you grew up your whole life here, and it is what it is. It's closing. So yeah, it's bittersweet."
Miller said that the decision to close I.D. Variety was mostly one of necessity. Her parents recently sold the land the store sits on to local contractor Kuqo Construction, which is still firming up plans for what will become of the property.
Miller said that I.D. Variety was among many mom-and-pop stores that the rise of online shopping did not treat kindly.
"It had a huge impact, yeah. Everyone orders on Amazon. I even order on Amazon. I totally get it," Miller said. "I just bought what people wanted me to start selling and ordered those products."
Miller said that over the past month she gave away much of her stock to local nonprofits, and planned to donate everything that remained when the business closed its doors for the last time.
As for the giant RadioShack sign that was mounted on the front of the building until recently, interested collectors of 1990s nostalgia who may have had their eye on it will need to look elsewhere.
"My parents sent it to my uncle Leroy in Arizona. He wanted it. He’s excited to have it," Miller said.
