TOOELE, Utah — Hildi Halladay opened Hildi’s Gifts in 1981.
“She was an immigrant from Germany, and she couldn't speak the language when she got here,” said Diana Shields. “She was 17 years old, and so for her to accomplish this was huge.”
Shields grew up, watching her mother create a store that sold everything from clothes to candy and unique gifts, but it was Hildi herself that kept people coming back.
“People came in just to chat and talk with her,” said Shields. “It kind of was like a general store, in terms of people coming to visit and have time with her, and they loved her so, so much.”
“You could come in here and just visit with her, not even buy anything,” said Diana Gustin, a long-time customer. “She was just amazing.”
Around the time Hildi’s Gifts moved to its location on 1180 N St, Walmart moved in right across the lot from the shop. Shields and her mom never felt that the big corporation was competition though, she said.
“Sometimes you just need a nicer gift, and you need something that not everybody's going to be able to buy,” said Shields.
Shields has been running the shop since 2020 when Hildi passed away.
“My mother literally worked till the week before she died,” she said. “And then she passed.”
The shop was her mom’s dream, but Shields needs to focus on her own dreams now, she said.
“I really struggled with it because I knew how important it was to my mother,” said Shields. “But I have felt her support in this 100 percent, and this might be a little superstitious, but I felt her here in these last few weeks as we've been shutting down, and it's kind of like she wanted to come and say her final goodbyes.”
Long-time customers were devastated when they heard the news, flooding the shop to make final purchases on the final day it was open Friday.
“I cried,” said Gustin. “I love this place. I love everything about it and everybody that works here, just super people.”
While Hildi, and now, Hildi’s Gifts, are gone, Hildi’s spirit will live on in this community, said Shields.
“Somebody once said, ‘Well, you don't have time for a lot of friends, do you?’ Because my mom lived in Salt Lake at the time,” said Shields. “And she said, ‘All of my friends and family are Tooele.’”
