Ready for meltdown
Local business ready for road closure

by Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 15/98) - The impending closure of the Mackenzie River ice crossing has Yellowknife businesses stocking up for the period between ice road and ferry crossing -- but no more than usual.

At Edgson's Market, wholesale manager Dusko Trivic said that the speciality store has already started stocking up on heavier items, such as bags of potatoes and carrots, as it does every year at this time.

"The last news we heard was that the road was going to close pretty soon," Trivic said.

He added that while Edgson's is bringing in additional stock for the time being, the increase in stock does not signify an increase in business.

Subway Restaurant manager Edna Greenfield said the franchise is prepared for closure and received its last shipment of non-perishable items on Sunday.

"We stock up on everything and anything that's non-perishable," she explained. "Snapple, potato chips, you name it."

Like Trivic, Greenfield said she has heard the Mackenzie ice road would close this week.

Al Krukoff, grocery manager at the Yellowknife Co-op store, said his store has been stocking up, but he finds that consumers are not buying in large quantities as they once used to.

"In past years, there was panic buying, but not so much any more," he said.

Krukoff added that people tend to be more tolerant of missing products on the shelves at this time of year.

"It can sometimes be a case of not having an item on the shelf, but you will have the item in a box," he explained. "They understand that you just don't know which box it's in."

As of yesterday, the Mackenzie River ice road was still open, but the surface was extremely rough and covered with water. The GNWT Department of Transportation will continue to evaluate the safety of all ice roads on a day-to-day basis and could close down the ice road with little or no notice.

Top of pageDiscussion boardSearch