Alaska Commercial Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Alaska Commercial Company was a company that operated retail stores in Alaska during the early period of Alaska's ownership by the United States. It began when businessmen from San Francisco, California, using the name Hutchinson, Kohl & Company, bought the commercial interests of the Russian-American Company from its Russian owners at the time of the Alaska Purchase by the United States in 1867. They renamed their company the Alaska Commercial Company soon afterward. The company operated village stores in Alaska from 1868 to 1922, including during the Klondike Gold Rush period from 1897-1899. The stores often served as the village courthouse and post office as well. Much trade in the stores was bartered, as few people had cash. The stores accepted such items as gold, fish and furs in exchange for merchandise. The stores were often the nucleus of small communities and communities often grew because of the stores.

In 1922, the Alaska Commercial Company was sold to a group of employees and named the Northern Commercial Company. It became a major supplier of heavy equipment and machinery in Alaska. In the cities that grew in Alaska, the company opened department stores and tire centers.

By 1974 the Northern Commercial Company was divided into three different companies and sold. The department stores were sold to Nordstrom. The equipment and machinery division was sold to a company from Seattle, Washington and the remaining eleven rural stores were sold to the Community Enterprise Development Corporation of Alaska (CEDC) and were renamed Alaska Commercial Company.

In November, 1992, Alaska Commercial Company was purchased from CEDC by the North West Company, a company separated from the Hudson's Bay Company of Canada to specialize in rural retail stores, to form the largest operator of rural stores in North America. ACC now has 30 stores in 21 remote Alaska Villages.