Scovill sells

Parts Place to Thorgesen

After 31 years under owner Tomi Scovill, the Parts Place will pass to new owner Chris Thorgesen next month.

“Thirty-one years is a long time,” Scovill said. “I’ve been saying it’s time to do something different.”

Scovil came to Haines about 45 years ago from Michigan, and said she stayed because she loved the people in the community.

Scovill said her loyal customers made working a joy. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them,” she said.

The official sale will take place July 5, but Scovill said she’ll stay on for about a month to help the transition.

“We try to have good customer service, and that’ll stay the same,” Scovill said. Tyler Scovill will stay on as manager, and a new employee was already hired to replace Tomi.

“A few people approached me (about buying the business), but I like that Chris is putting locals to work,” Scovill said. “The sale was painless.” She said she’s been trying to sell the business on and off for several years.

She said Thorgesen seemed like a good fit for the business and has demonstrated that he improves the businesses and buildings that he has bought in town.

Scovill said she plans to hike and golf in her time off and spend more time outdoors.

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New look for

2nd. Ave inn

Leslie Ross bought the old Summer Inn on Second Avenue in March and has spent the spring renovating.

A portion of that renovation included tearing up the bulk of the carpet, removing tar paper and layers of linoleum and refinishing the original wood floors from 1912.

“I’ve just been busting butt renovating it,” Ross said. “Nothing had been done to it in years.”

Ross is replacing trim and cutting out some of the shelving in the kitchen to open a space into the dining room. “This kitchen just screamed 1950s housewife so I just went with that theme,” she said.

Ross, who has renamed the bed and breakfast “The Inn,” opened last weekend and was fully booked.

Three rooms are available for guests, with access to two restrooms and two shower rooms. Ross also is revamping a larger guest room with a trundle bed.

When she bought the house, she inherited antique chairs, bookshelves and printing press letter trays.

Ross and her daughter Rio live upstairs where an antique, claw-foot bathtub was reportedly the first upstairs tub in a house in town.

The house was built in the early 1900s for Tim Vogel, a member of the notorious “Soapy Smith gang,” who moved to Haines and started up several saloon-card rooms, a stage line and a fish cannery.

The Inn is listed on AirBnb. Ross hopes to get her website up and running this week.

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Clark buys

charter boat

operation

Kraken Charters is in its inaugural season of fishing and sightseeing trips, but business is booming, said owner Chad Clark.

Five-year residents Chad and Stacey Clark, along with business partner Chris Thorgesen, purchased charter boat company First Choice Charters last year and rebranded to Kraken Charters.

Although owning a charter business is a new venture for Clark, he said his family, including two young daughters, has been fishing local waters since they moved here.

“We’ve been spending the past five summers on the water,” Clark said.

Clark purchased the First Choice Charters boat, and is refurbishing another local charter boat that has not been used for about six years.

Clark said Kraken Charters is one of two charter companies in Haines offering primarily halibut, salmon, rockfish or cod fishing and sightseeing tours to the Eldred Rock lighthouse, Gran Point (sealion rock), and Sawmill Falls.

Clark said in his first season, business is going well.

“We’re getting quite a few calls from people off the fast ferry in Skagway,” Clark said.

Although he’d like to target king salmon, Clark said he’s been steering people away from catch-and-release king salmon fishing with the recent fish decline.

“Now that there’s no fish retention in Lynn Canal for king salmon, we’re seeing clients who don’t see the purpose of fishing catch and release.”

Clark said he has a lot of ideas on how to improve Kraken Charter trips, but now he’s focused on learning the business and “getting our feet wet.”

“We’re starting off with a bang,” Clark said.

Call Captain Chad at 907-515-7028 or visit catchthekraken.com for more information.

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