V.F. Grace Inc.

• Author: Bonham, Nicole A.
• Position: Company Profile

Top 49ers Allstars COMPANY PROFILE

2002 Top 49er Ranking: 30

Position Last Year: 40

2001 Revenue: $35.6 million

Number of Employees: 102

With a recently acquired subsidiary under its belt and another year of revenue growth, Top 49er company V.F. Grace Inc. is the company behind the scenes supplying Alaskans with a steady cache of those day-to-day necessities--health and beauty aids, sporting goods, gardening supplies, candy and various sundries.

The Anchorage-based wholesaler is led by President Chuck Rush, who founded the Top 49er company nearly a half-century ago with fellow stockholders Volney and Fran Grace. Nowadays, Vice President Evelyn Rush and General Manager Kent Harrington join him at the company's helm.

Alaska Business Monthly's Top 49ers constitute the state's 49 largest for profit and Alaska-owned companies, as determined by factors including gross revenue and requirements that the company have a significant presence in the state and that at least 51 percent of its ownership are Alaskan.

For V.F. Grace Inc., long a fixture of the Anchorage business scene, the Alaskan-owned requisite is well in the bag. Rush easily recalls the company's dynamic beginnings in the Great Land.

"In 1956, our wholesale business at Eastchester Drug got too big and we went across the street and ... started a wholesale pharmaceutical company, which we named V.F. Grace Inc.," Rush recalls. "We soon learned there were not enough drug stores-about 28 in the state-to support a wholesale house, so we went to the Bush stores and tried to stock everything they wanted. Pretty soon we had everything from soup to nuts."

From that point forward, it was steady growth for the Alaskan-grown company, a record that continues today with its expansion into various wholesale products and services. "We were thrilled when we became the prime supplier for the Pay 'n' Save chain," among others, Rush says.

"We took over Eastchester Drug store in 1954 next to Larry Carr's first store in the J.C. Morris shopping center," Rush remembers. "Soon, due to Carr's advertising, we were the biggest drugstore in town and were selling to the other drug stores, both prescription drugs and health and beauty aids."

Today, Rush remains as the sole owner and, in addition to his executive duties, continues as the pharmacist-incharge at V.F. Grace Inc.

APART FROM THE CROWD

With a well-seasoned history of serving the needs of its Alaska consumers, V.F. Grace Inc. maintains its long-running...