SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There may have only been two aisles and two cash registers, but that didn't stop hundreds of people from checking out the items at Northern Food Services on Saturday.

Holly Menton, left, with her sons Hudson and Jace at the Northern Food Services warehouse on Old Airport Road on May. The wholesale retailer recently opened to the public on Saturdays for the first time, offering prices for its bulk food items similar to the ones found at Costco. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo

The wholesale food supplier on Old Airport Road opened its doors to the public for the first time on May 2 as part of a test run for the month.

Surrounded by shelves of bulk items, many customers couldn't help but compare the store's selection to another well-known wholesale retailer.

"Closest we're going to get to Costco," said Richard Snow. He had picked up large packages of crab meat, pork and dry ribs with his fiancee for barbecue season.

Billie Colbourne estimated her box of ribs was worth about $60 at a regular store. Here she was paying $39.

Many customers were already used to spending hundreds of dollars stocking up on pantry and freezer staples for themselves and their families. Colbourne said she and Snow go down south to Costco locations in Edmonton or Grand Prairie at least once a year to stock up.

"It's nice that we don't have to make so many frequent trips," she said.

Snow estimated they spent about $600 on their last visit. Randy Thompson considered that cheap.

"Last time I was there I spent $2,400," he said.

Thompson added he makes three trips to Costco each year, buying items that last him for months.

There were certainly plenty of items at Northern Food Services with that kind of quantity in mind. Enormous 100-ounce cans of beans, beets, pasta sauce, mushrooms and olives. Blocks of cheese weighing 2.27 kg for $31.67. A 10-pound tube of lean ground beef for $47.50. Most of the items were designed for use at the mines, mining camps, restaurants and other larger institutions. Some things, like packages of chocolate chips, cans of coconut milk or bottles of honey were regular sized. And not every item was a bargain, like the 2.5 kg bag of white and wild rice for $27.80.

But by noon on Saturday, lineups for the two cash registers were more than half an hour long, hundreds of people had already filed through and some items were already sold out.

"It's busy, but that's a good thing," Holly Menton said, as she waited with her kids Hudson and Jace.

General manager Roger Walker told Yellowknifer his staff estimated more than 1,000 came through the doors.

"We've had requests off and on for years," he said. "But if we had planned to do it from the start we would need a different setup for the warehouse."

Walker explained that the lineups were due to the lack of scanners commonly found in grocery stores, resulting in staff manually entering each item into computers. He also acknowledged the parking situation around the warehouse was a challenge for potential customers.

But after the positive initial turnout, Walker said his company definitely planned on changing up a number of items offered each week and expected to be fully restocked for next weekend. He also said the warehouse is scheduled to be open to the public every Saturday throughout the summer, and possibly beyond.

Even on that first day, some customers really did rack up Costco-level receipts on their visit, such as Royal Bank branch manager Yanik D'Aigle. He had filled two large Matco cardboard boxes with items, including cartons of molasses and cornstarch, a case of creamed corn, a bag of flour, jugs of canola oil and mayonnaise, laundry detergent, toilet paper, packs of Crisco shortening and three different kinds of sugar. Final total: $715.17.

"It's less than I thought," he said.

Northern staff member Treacey Eros grinned as she finished ringing him up. "Come back next week."

"Nah, I'm good for a while," D'Aigle replied, before staff helped load his items into the back of his neon green Jeep.

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