Whale Cove co-op opens temporary store after fire
Aug. 30 blaze destroyed hamlet’s only store, post office
Six days after the Aug. 30 fire that destroyed the only grocery store in Whale Cove, a temporary store located in the community hall was up and running. (Photo courtesy of Issatik Co-op)
Six days after the Aug. 30 fire that destroyed the only grocery store in Whale Cove, a new temporary store was up and running.
“At this point, it is still a fairly basic offering,” said Duane Wilson, vice-president of stakeholder relations for Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., in an interview Sept. 6.
The temporary store opened Sept. 5. It will operate daily except for Sundays and is housed in Whale Cove’s community centre.
Groceries and other items were displayed on pallets until shelving was installed. Fridges were on site ready to be installed as of Monday. Wilson could not say how long that might take, noting that electrical work, which is nearing completion, is needed to get the refrigerators operating.
“Over the course of the next few days I expect you’ll continue to see improvements,” he said.
On Aug. 30, an early-morning fire engulfed the Issatik Co-op, the only store in the community with a population of about 500 people. That forced the hamlet to declare a local state of emergency with concern over the community’s immediate access to food.
The cause of the fire has not been announced.
That weekend, Canadian Rangers, co-op staff and other volunteers prepared hampers for community members from food and supplies that were sent in by plane or boat.
The post office, which was located inside the store, was also lost in the fire. Wilson said staff were working on creating a temporary replacement at the community hall that will meet Canada Post’s security standards.
“I would expect that we’ll see some progress every day, but I’m not going to speculate … when those different steps are going to be achieved,” he said. “But I don’t think it’ll be too long.
“We’ve got a good group and they understand the importance of having a function food store in the community.”
On its Facebook page, Issatik Co-op posted instructions for people concerned over mail that is missing or was lost in the fire.
In the interview, Wilson attributed the rapid reopening of co-op services to the co-ordination of multiple moving parts, each one of which he said was important to the opening of the temporary store.
In particular, he singled out the co-op’s construction and maintenance workers, its refrigeration supplier and Calm Air airline for transporting supplies.
Wilson said Arctic Co-ops is “grateful” to the volunteers who stepped up to donate or help with the food effort and to its suppliers, the Kivalliq Inuit Association, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.
This story was updated on Monday, Sept. 9 at 3 p.m. ET to give new information about the state of the temporary store.
It looks like they’ll ship the whole store and contractors to whale cove again by plane like the other two before it was burned down.
Confused; why are you so negative? not enough coffee this morning? Your spouse life you? Gone broke? wth?
Just wait and see eskimo joe
Thank god there is pop again!!! How would we survive!!!
Well done to the community of Whale Cove for rallying and being resourceful at this tremendous time if need. And to those who worked behind the scenes to make this happen, may the Force be with you, whatever you believe it to be! Thank you for all you are doing to support our brothers and sisters in WC.
Nutrition North at its finest, anyone on the board this picture is all u need to see in importance to retail sales in the north driven by customer demand.. If u want to make a change then your subsidy needs to be on the products people buy, the retailers all have this information in detailed form, they know exactly what they sell and exactly what needs to happen. 1. Look at how closely the 2 main games collaborate, it’s way more than the public knows, 1 company plays the bully and the other company plays the following game..Investigate both companies post salary of all upper management, then the people in the north will see why everything is priced so high..
OMG!!!!!
How did “these people” survive without pop and chips? ERMAGERD!!😭🥺
And just like that, whale cove is stable. lol
The ACL needs to get its act particularly its directors! The previous Restaurant Hotel torn to ashes due to poor Management, and intern Staff that had no experience in administering restaurant hotel for short period of time due to NO accountability with ACL! You may notice pallets that arrived on sealift months where just sitting by the Co-op Store without ever being stored. This must have been an management issue?
The ACL needs to listen to customers, and it’s employees. Some Co-op stores had requested restaurant over 20 years in every AGM but only to hear excuse after excuse! You may notice ACL have Management that supposed to administer retail, hotel, warehouse, staffs, and Petro (contract) only con to submit their names to be elected as Hamlet Councillor, DEA, Alcohol Committee, and Day Care board!
This raises concern at all level with ACL how this system is bias in small remote Municipalities! This is a broken system with steroids! Don’t you think Management hired is supposed to administer RETAIL, HOTEL, WAREHOUSE, PPD, and its STAFF’s?