Anita’s G.R.A.B. store owner celebrates 85th birthday

   Anita Ward, owner of Anita’s G.R.A.B. Store, located at 24 W. Idaho St. in Weiser, recently celebrated her 85th birthday with friends and fellow business owners.
 Anita, who graduated from Weiser High School in 1954, has owned her own business for 25 years and is still going strong.
 “I graduated and followed my husband, Noah, in the Air Force for 20 years,” she told the Weiser Signal American. “We landed back here in about 1977.”
 Anita served as an assistant activities director at a local nursing home for the next 18 years before realizing her dream of becoming a business owner.
 “I always knew I wanted to have my own business,” she said. “I just knew it was going to happen.”
 The store has occupied several buildings in Weiser’s downtown area over the years, but she has been at her current location for approximately nine years.
 “It’s gone very well,” she added. “I’ve got a wonderful landlord, Larry Lee. He couldn’t be better.”
 The shop has a wide variety of antiques, collectibles and other items she finds on her own and that are donated.
 “It’s not necessarily antiques,” she explained. “I just like shopping. One of my loves is stopping for any garage sale I see. I get lots of donations, too. I have a garage full of stuff and two storage sheds that I can’t get in here.”
 Weiser Mayor Randy Hibberd, former Weiser High classmate Ralph Bain, along with Bonnie Akbar of Artful Bons and JudyAnn Scott of JudyAnn’s Quilting were on hand to cut cake and share some time with the long-time business owner.
 “When you get up every day and go to work as a business owner, and you have a reason to keep going every day, I really admire that,” said Linda Roundtree of Station 30 in Weiser. “You have to have a reason to get up every day. She is a great lady and I give her credit. She get’s up everyday and goes full-speed ahead.”
 For more information on Anita’s G.R.A.B. Store, call (208) 807-5139.