Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - This Christmas, Yellowknifers will be able to shop at their very own Staples Business Depot store. And it won't be just any old Staples store - the city will host the most expensive Staples ever.

Craig Anderson, site superintendent for Kor-Alta Construction Ltd., an Edmonton company constructing the Staples building next to the Frame Lake Plaza. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

"This is by far our most expensive one to date," said Rudy Roopnarine, director of construction for Staples.

The big box store full of back-to-school supplies, computer gear, and fancy desk chairs is presently under construction next to the Frame Lake Plaza.

It will be open for Christmas shopping, if all goes to plan, said Roopnarine.

The 18,000 sq. ft. building should cost $4 million to $5 million when complete, he said. Generally, the stores cost from $2 million to $4 million to build, said Roopnarine.

The man in charge of construction at the Yellowknife site is predicting the store will cost even more.

"It's estimated at $5.5 million but we'll be a little bit over budget. I know that," said Craig Anderson, site superintendent.

Anderson works for Kor-Alta Construction Ltd., which has a contract with Staples to build its stores. He has been working at the site since construction began in Oct. 2006, he said.

The extra expense comes because Yellowknife will host one of the few Staples stores to have a basement.

"(We) realized that because of the ice bridge we'd better have a location with room for extra storage and stock so we don't run out for our customers," said Roopnarine, in a phone interview.

The basement made the project especially tough, said Anderson.

"It was a bit of a challenge, especially with all that rock," he said.

Working through the icy winter was another challenge for the crew of about 10 tradespeople, he said.

A heated tent over the site was still not enough to make it safe to work all winter, he said. The crew lost 34 construction days due to the cold, said Roopnarine.

That problem, combined with workers leaving to construct the ice roads, to the challenges of building a basement into the Canadian Shield, all led to delay after delay, said Anderson.

With the opening originally planned for June, now Anderson is predicting the building will be done the end of November.

Once the frame is up, the site will be crawling with tradespeople, he said. At least 60-80 workers will be on-site to get the insides of the building completed - from wiring to plumbing.

A long list of local contractors will be used for the project, according to Anderson, who reeled off 12 local business names from memory.

"We're buying pretty much everything out of Yellowknife to put it together," he said.

The idea for the store has been in the works for about four years, according to Roopnarine.

"We just had to make sure that we could make it work," he said.