Pending inspection, re-stocked Iqaluit Northmart to re-open Saturday

North West Company’s Quickstop locations have been re-stocked with Northmart’s supplies this week. But with an influx of fresh meat, dairy and produce coming into Iqaluit and not much shelf space to put it on, the stores have reduced the prices on many products, like these cuts of meat offered for $5 off on Nov. 14, to try and sell them off quickly. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NWC)

Northmart staff clear out the store’s contaminated food stock on Nov. 10, two days after a major fire in the Northmart warehouse. The store is completely restocking its shelves this week, in the hope of re-opening its doors on Nov. 17. (PHOTO BY J. AKUMALIK)

The North West Co. says its staff are working “around the clock” to ensure its Iqaluit Northmart store and the Tim Hortons outlet it houses are ready to re-open by the weekend.

A fire was set at the loading dock of the Northmart warehouse on Nov. 8, which completely destroyed the facility. The adjacent store sustained smoke and water damage.

So Northmart staff, NWC management and hired tradespeople have been working to clean and repair the store, so that staff can bring in new stock ahead of the weekend.

“A lot of the work has just been scrubbing it down, all the fixtures … to get rid of as much of the smoke as we could,” said Alex Yeo, president of Canadian retail at NWC.

The company is still working through the inspection and permitting process, but if all goes well, Northmart management plans to re-open the store to the public on Saturday at a soon-to-be confirmed time.

“We’re anticipating by the end of the week, it will be OK to do that,” Yeo said. “The core part of the store will be open.”

The back wall of the store building, which connected to the warehouse, was damaged in the fire and temporary siding has been put up.

All the fresh food items in the store at the time of the fire had to be disposed of. Canned and well-packaged foods that were salvaged and deemed safe to consume were donated to charitable organizations in the community, Yeo said.

So all the food that will be sold to the community once the store re-opens will be new stock brought in this week.

The meat room won’t have re-opened by the weekend; all of Northmart’s meat is being sent to its Pangnirtung store for now to be butchered there, packaged and sent back to Iqaluit.

The Northmart pharmacy will resume full prescription services Nov. 17 for residents of Iqaluit and other communities in the Baffin region. The in-store pharmacy will operate under normal business hours once the store re-opens, the company said, which means from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, closed Sunday and then from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Staff from NWC’s head office in Winnipeg, including Yeo, visited Iqaluit last weekend to assess the damage.

“Seeing it, you really see how much it matters to the community,” he said. “Especially the elders, you see how much [the store] is a gathering place for them.”

Since the Nov. 8 fire closed the store, NWC has re-stocked its four Quickstop locations in Iqaluit, offering fresh foods through those stores in the interim. Any surplus food stock went to Arctic Ventures Marketplace or DJ’s Convenience.

The NWC has also secured temporary warehouse space at a few different locations around town.

The company plans to rebuild its own warehouse, but Yeo said that won’t happen before the next sealift season.

City officials encourage residents to continue to shop locally

Initial fears about potential food shortages following the store closure have largely been calmed.

Until Northmart re-opens, the City of Iqaluit is encouraging residents to do their grocery shopping either earlier in the day or later in the evening to avoid long line-ups at stores.

The city has also asked residents to continue to purchase their groceries locally to avoid creating any shipping delays with the current distribution system, the city said in a Nov. 13 release.

And for southern-based individuals or organizations who have expressed an interest in helping out, city officials say that cash donations to local groups, like the Qajuqturvik Food Centre, are much easier to send and process than food deliveries.

“This will enable local groups to purchase locally, helping to reduce any shipping backlogs,” the city said in a news release.