The territory’s northernmost community will soon have a new grocery store, six months after the old one closed down.
Old Crow’s new Arctic Co-op store is opening on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Tracy Rispin, one of eight founding directors and president of the co-op.
The building will also house the TD bank, Canada Post and two apartments up for rent.
Representatives from Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. are flying up for the occasion, Rispin said, as is Yukon MP Ryan Leef.
“It’s very exciting times for Old Crow,” she said.
“The managers are in place and we’re ready to take off. We’re No. 32 in the Arctic Co-op family.”
It’s been a long winter for Old Crow residents, Rispin said.
After the Northern Store closed in mid-November, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation set up a temporary store where residents could get staple foods and basic supplies.
Others would bring groceries back from Dawson City and Whitehorse when they travelled, Rispin said.
“We had limited items in our store, and it wasn’t fully stocked, but we survived,” she said.
Plans for the store were originally announced in Nov. 2013, and the goal was to have it open in July 2014.
The co-op is being built next to the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation’s maintenance compound.
Contact Myles Dolphin at myles@yukon-news.com