Coldspot Feeds: clearinghouse for coldweather creations.

• Author: Holland, Jonathan
• Position: Salute to Small Business - Company Profile

Starting with a few bags of fox food in 1987, Stuart and Connie Morse have built a mushing supply business, Coldspot Feeds, that supports their family and a host of cottage industries in the Interior.

"We are probably one of very few complete mushing supply stores in the world," Morse says. "We use about 130 different suppliers for Coldspot, many of them local."

Coldspot provides mushers with dog food, meat and dietary supplements. The Morses also stock sleds, harnesses, lines and tackle, camping gear, clothing and even instructional literature.

"One of the things that is very impressive about our equipment is how much is made locally," Morse notes. "I'm really impressed by the quality of local products."

Morse got his start when he lived in the Bush north of Fairbanks. He was looking for an inexpensive way to feed his string of trapline dogs when he ran across an advertisement from National Brands for surplus fox food being sold by a fur farmer. He bought 20 bags of the fox food and discovered that his dogs flourished on it.

Morse contacted the people at National and asked to become a distributor. National's marketing department, however, wanted further evidence that there was a market for its product in Alaska. Thinking fast, Morse convinced National to sponsor a friend, Don Glassboro, who was running the Yukon Quest, with a supply of fox food.

Glassboro finished 15th, and his team was considered one of the healthiest in the event. National finally agreed to make Morse, doing business as Coldspot Feeds, a distributor and set to work on a formula especially for dogs.

"The day I bought my first truckload (44,000 pounds) of National dog food, I invested all the money I got from my last job --$10,000," Morse says.

According to Morse, the demand was so great, he bought his next truckload in about six weeks. Then he got into the gear business. On impulse, Morse bought a 100-count box of snap swivels. They sold out in about 36 hours.

Since then, Coldspot has expanded steadily into the wholesale and...