Convenience store chain hits North
Arctic Connection plans to start franchises in Whale Cove, possibly Churchill
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 16, 2013
NUNAVUT
A new convenience store and pizza counter is scheduled to open in Arviat before Christmas, according to Winnipeg business owner and former Kivalliq resident Jim Ramsay.
Arctic Connection, which shares its name with Ramsay's 12-year-old shipping business, which includes stocks hardware, groceries, clothing and other general goods.
A Gondola Pizza franchise, another Winnipeg-based company with a dozen outlets in Manitoba and one in Northern Ontario, is also part of the store.
The Arviat store and pizza franchise represents the first phase of what Ramsay hopes will become a Northern Canadian retail chain.
"Our goal is actually to go up the coast here and have (Gondola) franchises in them. Whale Cove is our next target place and possibly Churchill, too. Our goal by probably April is to have two more stores going," he said. "We've got a few other places we're looking at. It depends on the infrastructure and how fast we can get them fixed up."
The Arviat store will open any day now, Ramsay said. For the first two weeks, the store will remain open 24 hours, he added.
Last week, artist Brian Arualak was putting the finishing touches on several murals designed to decorate the exterior of the more than 1,200-square-metre building. The images depict children at play, elders dancing and Arctic wildlife.
Ramsay leased a building in Arviat last fall in hopes of opening last winter, but that plan did not work out, he said.
"This summer, we leased a few lots and bought some infrastructure in Arviat and we secured some infrastructure in a couple of other communities, but they're down the road," he added.
Ramsay said he anticipates hiring close to two dozen workers in Arviat, half of whom would be full-time.
Arctic Connection will represent the fourth general goods store in Arviat, alongside the Co-op, Northern Store and Eskimo Point Lumber Supply. Ramsay's shipping business is poised to keep the store supplied with products.
"We've got pretty much the full chain of supply. At our Winnipeg operation, we have walk-in freezers and walk-in coolers," he said.
This past summer, Arctic Connection shipped more than two-and-a-half million kilograms of products by sea lift and 55 trucks to 20 Nunavut communities. The company makes about 50 to 60 shipments to the Kivalliq each week during summer and a couple of plane loads per week to other clients throughout the year.
The company contracts various Nunavut-based crews during the year and employs a few Nunavummiut seasonally.
In Winnipeg, half a dozen Nunavummiut students work for Arctic Connection's main warehouse while studying at university or college.
Arviat has a growing population approaching 3,000 people, 60 per cent of whom are under 18, according to Keith Collier, economic development officer for the hamlet.
"There is a high unemployment rate in Arviat and we have lots of people looking for employment," he said.
"When you're talking about 24 new jobs, half part-time, half full-time, that's pretty significant here. Any chance for new local jobs is exciting."
In addition to doing business in the North for more than a decade, Ramsay and his family lived in Rankin Inlet for six years, where he was involved in community hockey and co-organized the Jammin' on the Bay music festival. He moved to Sandy Hook, Man. in 2002 and started Arctic Connection that year.
