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IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
Travellers passing through the Cambridge Bay Airport now have an opportunity to grab a snack and shop for locally-made art without leaving the terminal.

Vicki Aitaok displays some Arctic Closet's wares at last year's Kitikmeot Trade Show. Aitaok opened a second Arctic Closet location at the Cambridge Bay Airport on Sept. 6. - NNSL file photo

Arctic Closet owners Vicki Aitoak and Jorgan Aitaok opened a coffee counter and gift kiosk at the airport on Sept. 6. The couple were granted the three-year lease for the Arctic Closet airport concession on Aug. 2.

"Bidding on this concession contract is really important as a little, small private company in the community because we have a whole other market of people to attract," Vicki said.

The 15 square-metre shop currently offers coffee and snack items such as ready-made sandwiches, gum and candy. Juice, pop and bottled water are also on the menu.

Soon, the shop will stock homemade chili, soup and pie as well as fresh sandwiches, Jorgan said. The entrepreneurs are scoping out approved kitchens in the community and are preparing their home kitchen for a government health inspection.

Their daughter, Hope Aitoak, 16, who may take over the Arctic Closet business, Vicki said, is training to be a barrista at the airport location.

"I know how to make good coffee," said the Grade 10 Qalinik High School student. "I learned from watching my parents."

Hope will soon have brand new equipment to work with. The business just deposited a little more than $16,000 conferred by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association's Kitikmeot Business Assistance Program. The money will be used to purchase cappuccino and latte machines and a hot dog machine, Jorgan said.

Hope and four other part-time staff being hired for airport location will all complete a food-handling course through the Health Department, Vicki added.

"But schooling comes first for Hope," Jorgan said. "When there is no school, she can greet passengers and help out at the till."

The airport location opens an hour before the often twice-daily flights arrive and remains open until an hour after departure.

Retail items for sale include locally-made jewelry, ulus, carvings and clothing, souvenir mugs and trivets, and other crafts and gift items, such as the popular muskox hat -- a cotton tuque with plush horns Vicki designed for Omingmak Frolics several years ago.

The Aitoaks continue to run Arctic Closet, which employs two full-time and four part-time staff, and earlier this year registered their eco-tourism business as Qaigguit Tours.

Vicki organizes the community's cruise ship welcome strategy under that business name, for which she subcontracts 25 to 30 people each summer, in addition to facilitating opportunities for artists and artisans to sell their work to passengers. Now, she and Jorgan, a Ranger and life-long hunter and trapper, are also guiding visitors around historical sites and sightseeing on the land.

The couple plan to keep building their businesses for next summer.

"There are lots of lakes and ponds in and around town that have lots of fish," Jorgan said. "We're looking at getting a boat and motor so we can do some boat tours around town and out in the ocean (next summer)."

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