Future 49ers Bailey's Furniture and Sourdough Express.

• Author: Kay, Alexandra

If the politics of 1958 had played out slightly differently and Alaska statehood was delayed by six months or so, Hawaii would have laid claim to the 49th star on the US flag. As the fiftieth state, Alaska would ascribe special significance to that number instead, and thus our annual list of top companies by revenue would have room for one more entry.

But history played out as it did, so the ranks are closed at forty-nine. Inevitably, some businesses don't make the list--including those that have easily landed on it previously, as the bottom tine continues to climb year after year.

Among the companies that just barely missed the mark this year, there are two that have yet to land on the list-but show incredible potential. Both are long-established, family-owned dynasties. One is a Best of Alaska Business winner for Best Furniture Store in Alaska. The other ranked #82 on this year's Corporate 100, with more Alaska employees than such 49er stalwarts as Usibelli Coal Mine or Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Center.

Bailey's Furniture and Sourdough Express are currently waiting in the wings. Here are the reasons why they could easily take the stage, sooner or later.

Family Business

Ron Bailey launched his used furniture store in January 1990. "I started the store by accident." he says. "I went to an auction and bought a dining room set without asking my wife. When she didn't like it, I put an ad in the paper and got thirty phone calls and ended up making twice what I had paid for it. I took that money and went and bought two more sets and did the same thing--and the business was born."

Originally called A-l Discount Furniture, Bailey eventually began dealing new furniture. "I finally figured out there wasn't enough used furniture in Alaska to meet the demand," Bailey says. "Alaska is separate from the rest of the United States, and there aren't enough people hauling used furniture up here."

So Bailey went to the Seattle furniture market and bought four shipping containers of new items. "I had used furniture on one side of the shop and new on the other," he says. "I let people choose what they wanted, and they really enjoyed having that choice." As time went on, Bailey realized it was easier to buy new furniture than it was to buy used pieces. He opened a store in Wasilla in his third year in business; five years later he opened a store in Soldotna, and five years later a store in Fairbanks.

Anchorage remains the headquarters, with the largest furniture...