![]() Kolb says the company’s ambitious expansion was made possible through a recapitalization deal it reached last spring with a Seattle-based private-equity firm. “The Ester thing - that’s in negotiations right now,” he said. Kolb says the company is also developing new stores in Eagle River, Cooper Landing, Ketchikan and possibly west of Fairbanks. The store was remodeled and enlarged last year as part of the company’s expansion around the state. ![]() In 1980, Three Bears Alaska built its first store in Tok. “We are planning on clearing land in the spring and have it open by the fall of ’23,” he said in an interview Thursday. Three Bears Marketing Director Jim Kolb says the company is still working on a final plan for the 25-acre site, located about a half-mile from Brookside Park on the west side of the highway. “We’re talking about the Full Monty here!” he said. “We got together and we made a pitch two years ago and, they liked that pitch,” he said in an interview Thursday.Īfter a few more months of back-and-forth, Three Bears executives and owners agreed to build a 55-thousand-square-foot combination grocery-convenience store, along with a 20-thousand-square foot Ace Hardware, a lumber yard, a sporting-goods store, a Shell gas station - even an electric-vehicle fast-recharging station. It now has stores in 10 towns and cities around the state, and one in Montana. So, he talked with the top executives of Three Bears Alaska, a much smaller company that opened its first store in Tok back in 1980 and in recent years has opened several additional retail outlets. Welch says a few weeks later, he decided that instead of trying to attract a mega-corporation like Kroger, he might have better luck closer to home. ![]() “I tried with Kroger’s - y’know, Freddy’s, and I couldn’t get to first base.” ![]() Three Bears Alaska has built 10 stores in Alaska, including this one in Healy that opened in 2017. ![]()
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