The largest community in the North Slope Borough has a new grocery store. Alaska Commercial Co. opened AC Stuaqpak last week in partnership with the local Native corporation.
Roughly a thousand people attended the store’s grand opening in Utqiaġvik, said Kyle Hill, ACC’s president.
“It was just all positivity about the broader selection of food, the fact that we had fresh cut meat in the store. The fact that we had hot deli food, including hamburgers and breakfast sandwiches,” he said.
AC Stuaqpak, which means “big store” in Inupiaq, is in Utqiaġvik's largest retail space. It’s 40,000 square feet – and is owned by the Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corp. Alaska Commercial Company operated there until 2019, when former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich took over the lease, and opened his own store, also called Stuaqpak, promising the community lower grocery prices.
But a January statement from Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corp. says the store had persistent inventory issues, and that it would be looking for a new grocer “who cares about and can meet the needs of our community.”
The new store offers an expansive selection of groceries, including fresh meat and produce, frozen food and general merchandise. It will eventually get new floors and other upgrades, Hill said, including new hot cases, refrigeration and check stands.
More than 80,000 Alaskans shop at nearly 40 AC stores throughout the state, many of which are in rural areas where goods have to be flown or boated in. Alaska Commercial Company has another, smaller store near Utqiaġvik's airport, which it plans to continue operating. The company has about 60 employees between the two locations.
Hill said customers’ shopping behavior will determine the future of the smaller store.
“If people end up shopping almost exclusively for their dry grocery in the large store, we may turn the smaller store into a different format, including more furniture, appliances, motorized machines, sporting, outdoor living,” Hill said. “You [can] kind of imagine a whole variety of non-food products.”
There’s only one bank in the town of more than 4,500 people. The Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corp.’s president and CEO, Pearl Brower, said they’re working to bring more financial services to the retail space that houses the store, along with opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
“One of the things that happens here is that we don't have a lot of commercial infrastructure for small businesses,” she said. “Something that we'd like to very much consider as we move forward, is utilizing some of the space to perhaps put in some opportunity for some small businesses to run small storefronts.”
Brower said there has been a long need for a large grocery operation in the North Slope hub community, and that it will serve residents throughout the region.
The store is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight, and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
