"It's unbelievable. It came so quickly that I didn't even realize the years had passed," the birthday celebrant said on the "Ringvaade" show.

With a smiling face, Alma Sooäär has been welcoming customers for nearly half her life — 30 of those years on Vana-Kalamaja tänav. But the Alma Shop (Alma äri) began in Nõmme.

"I've always been a businesswoman, always worked in business. There was a building in Nõmme that also housed a store during Soviet times. For some reason it shut down and then the boss offered me the space, asked if I wanted to take it on. I said of course I did. So I opened it in 1990 in Nõmme. The shop was already called Alma then."

Sooäär still works behind the counter herself. "I had a salesperson until recently, but since there wasn't much work, she decided to stay home. Still, she comes by to help sometimes. And my daughters help out — they do the accounting, a bit of everything and handle orders. Even my grandchildren have worked here. Everyone's worked here," she said.

Although business has slowed lately, Sooäär doesn't complain. There's never been a day when the door hasn't opened at least once. "I manage just fine. I'm not operating at a loss and I'm not coming up short either. Maybe I don't earn that much myself, but it evens out."

The Alma shop carries around 1,500 products. According to its owner, the most popular items are dishware, cleaning supplies, rat poison, metal dustpans and nails. "Everyone says you can find anything at Alma's. One man even came in just to test whether that was true — whether he'd hear 'we don't have that' — but he didn't," the shopkeeper said with a grin.

Looking back on her long career, Sooäär named the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the more difficult times when everything was locked down. "I wasn't even allowed to open the door — just in case. But later I started selling through the door anyway."

While she doesn't dwell on the hard times, there have been many good ones. One of the most meaningful moments in her life was receiving a state decoration from the president last February. "That was truly a proud moment. Such a lovely president — to notice someone like me," she said with joy.

Sooäär believes in staying active for as long as possible. "I always tell myself that if the day ever comes when I stay home, I'll start reading. I have so many books."

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