– When I looked a little closer at him, I saw who it was. Former sheriff in Flå, Geir Vidme, stands in the center along highway 7 as he points and tells. He had received a message that a silver-grey SAAB 9000 was coming down the valley at too high a speed, and it had to be stopped. Photo: news / Caroline Bækkelund Hauge – It probably went a little too fast here, said Vidme to the man behind the wheel. – Yes, it probably did, boy, replied the driver. The man’s name was Olav Thon. The sheriff was not slow to strike while the iron was hot. Instead of a fine, he used the opportunity to speak warmly for Bjørneparken, which was struggling financially. It would change the whole village. Here, Thon was to bet fully, and invest several hundred million in a village that was in full disintegration. Olav Thon’s trademark is a red home-knit hat. He turns 100 today. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB sc He thrives in nature. Here he is at his cabin by Tjernslivannet on Sollihøgda. He has often relaxed there with the coffee pot in hand. Photo: Aage Storløkken / SCANPIX In 2019, he married his girlfriend of many years, Sissel Berdal Haga. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB – There’s Rema 1000, the hotel, the shopping centre, Mc Donalds, the greenhouse, … yes and Thonhallen, we can’t forget it. Mayor Merete Gandrud stands on a hill and looks out over Flå. She shows everything Olav Thon has built up over the past 20 years. Here there was only a roadside inn, a gas station and a grocery store. Now people no longer drive by. The businessman and property developer saw something that the others did not, that the traffic between east and west could be a goldmine. Mayor of Flå, Merete Gandrud, grins broadly when she looks out over Flå today. In Bjørneparken there is a statue of Thon. Everyone passes it when they visit the park. The mayor has no doubt who is Flå’s biggest benefactor. – There are 1,100 inhabitants here and the shopping center has a turnover of 230 million. It’s not scumbags who leave 230 million, haha. The mayor laughs out loud. – But is it nice? – That is a completely different matter. – Has he made money from you then? – Yes, but we have also profited from him, so that’s fine. Fair play. Halling with flair There are many cities and towns that have had a taste of Olav Thon’s ideas and implementation power. He grew up on the farm Søre Thon in Ål in Hallingdal together with three older siblings. With fur breeding at home on the farm, he sold two red fox skins for NOK 600 to fur traders in Oslo to get start-up capital, and already at 18 he started the fur shop Volvat Pels at Majorstuen in Oslo. In 1942, his career started in property development, and a few years ago the childless Thon announced that he would give away part of his billion-dollar inheritance to research. Facts about the Thon Group The Olav Thon Group comprises many businesses, of which the core businesses are property and hotels. Thon-Gruppen owns and manages approx. 90 hotels in Norway, Brussels and Rotterdam. Thon Eiendom owns and operates approx. 90 shopping centres, including the Amfi chain, in Norway and Sweden. The most famous shopping centers are Sandvika Storsenter and Nordby Shoppingcenter. Source: Olav Thon group Want to be rich like Thon A group of secondary school students walk along the Thonhallen. They have just played cannon ball in the hall, round the corner and are on their way to Mc Donalds. Photo: news / Caroline Bækkelund Hauge Trym Vivelid Nilssen checks the mobile phone. He likes numbers and quickly finds out that Thon had a taxable asset of 2.1 billion in 2021. – He is a pleasant fellow and owns almost all of Flå, so he is the one who has made things happen here. The young people buy an ice cream at McDonald’s and sit on the benches outside the shopping centre. We couldn’t buy the ice cream from Mc Donalds before, say the young people in Flå. They agree that Olav Thon has meant a lot to them. They often make the trip as a group to Mc Donalds. Now they have places to be. Viola is grateful for everything Olav Thon has done in her village. – Without all this, Flå would have been a very sad place. Some hang out outside the shopping centre. Eating ice cream and looking at the tourists who were not here before. In Thonhallen they have a gym and leisure activities. It was also built by Olav Thon when he invested. Viola Fjeldstad Bråten sees a bus with foreign tourists stopping in the car park. – I am very grateful for everything he has done. If it hadn’t been for him, we would hardly have had residents, tourists or anything here. Then Flå would have been a very sad place. Trym is aware that Thon has had a special flair for business, and could imagine himself becoming rich. Then he would invest in crypto. Comrade Ahmed Albadwi doesn’t quite agree. – Would you like to own as much as Olav Thon? – No! It would have been far too much control! What about the rough driving? In Bjørneparken there is a statue of a sitting old man with a red hat, with a small bear cub crawling onto his back. On an engraved steel plate is written “Flå’s biggest benefactor”. It is not more than a month since he bought another property in the center of Flå. Photo: news / Caroline Bækkelund Hauge The sheriff who is now employed by the Olav Thon group must answer why he did not fine him that time: – There are many people who get warnings, and he got a warning. – But has he sharpened up? Geir Vidme laughs loudly: – No, I don’t know. news has been in contact with the jubilee. He politely declines an interview.
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Olav Thon turns one hundred years old. The businessman has changed many towns and villages. – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
