Gregor Terjung is 87 and has been coming to his West Seattle junction store nearly every day since he bought the business in 1968.

Patrick Robinson

No website, no Facebook page, not even an email account. No advertising, no special sales, no marketing.

Yet ever since 1968 Gregor Terjung has made his Terjung's Studio of Gifts in the West Seattle Junction a success. Now 87, he says he's thinking about retirement noting that he has a son in law that retired at 65. But that day is a ways off, since for he and his daughter Gail, the shop is a labor of love.

Competing in a world seemingly dominated by digital sales would seem next to impossible, but the store relies on the power of immediacy (no waiting for delivery), sentiment (most of the items in the store are meant to be given from one person to another, not sent via truck), and relationships. Not just between his customers and their families and friends but with the community at large.

Terjung has such a long history, that the vast majority of his customers are people who have shopped with him for decades.

He's been in business for 48 years.

At Terjung's you will find a huge assortment of greeting cards from eight different vendors, small toys, items for baby showers, wedding showers, ribbon, candies, a good sized selection of small stuffed animals, an assortment of marmalades and tea accessories, and surprisingly, a selection of magic tricks and magic DVD's to train the budding magician.

The store also has some hand made aprons and tiny gift boxes that are unique to Terjung's because they are things he made himself.

It's a store primarily based on the heart to heart communication between family, friends and loved ones.

Somehow, clicking on a website to buy something and have it shipped lacks that personal touch. It's likely why Terjung's has not just survived but thrived.

He was in the Army, serving at Fort Lewis, joining in 1948 when he graduated High School and "missed everything" meaning the gap between the end of World War II and the Korean conflict was his service window. He met his wife of 67 years, Gloria in Seattle through a friend who had moved here. She does the bookwork for the store at home. His secret to a good marriage is to "just try to get along, She has a temper and I don't so when she gets mad I just walk away and the next day she's fine and we're ok."

"We just love what we do, and we love our customers," he said, "Now we see some new customers from the new apartments, and they become repeat customers."

The business actually began in a garage in the Fauntleroy neighborhood and was started by Mrs. Walbum, she later moved it to the Junction in the late 1950's. Gregor had worked for Safeway and then pursued his ambition to get into lithography and sold her some things. He bought the business from her in 1968. Gail joined him 37 years ago and now does all the buying. Sister Gina also comes in on Fridays to help out.