The Story of Three Bears: Tok was too small, cities are too big, and the retail chain's future is just right.

• Author: Pesznecker, Katie
• Position: RETAIL

The Three Bears Alaska grocery and retail chain began as an unassuming roadside store and has blossomed over the decades.

"We're definitely an Alaska company," says Three Bears' CEO Dave Weisz "We started in Alaska. Our employees are all Alaskan. We will be moving up in the next few years in the range of about 1.200 employees to staff all the new locations we have going on."

In August 2022, Three Bears opened a store in Sterling on the Kenai Peninsula with a fun and splashy community open house, inviting locals to enjoy free hot dogs and burgers, prize giveaways, and shopping discounts.

More plans for the Alaska market are in the chute, with anticipated stores opening in Ketchikan, North Pole, and another Kenai Peninsula location in Cooper Landing. These locations reflect Three Bears' growth strategy over the years. Avoiding the urban centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Wasilla, the retail chain more commonly targets smaller-town markets where people live an inconvenient distance from city supermarkets.

"Where the legacy of Three Bears is concerned, I like to say, it's like the American dream, but it's the Alaska way," Weisz says.

Weisz's father, Larry, founded the company's first grocery store in the sleepy junction town of Tok in November 1980. He named it Gateway Food Store. Larry had a background in the Navy, then worked for the Carrs grocery chain, managing various stores before striking out on his own. It so happened a grocery store in Tok was for sale.

"They didn't have much of a meat case, and any meat they had was frozen," he recalls. "They hardly had any fresh vegetables. One of the first things we did, we worked on putting in fresh meat and fresh produce. We had to learn to cut meat and handle produce and do all the ordering, but it was just part of the growth."

Weisz, the oldest son in the family, had just graduated from high school. Working at the family business that first winter in Tok, Weisz experienced extreme Interior Alaska cold for the first time.

"I look at some of the old pictures where the company started," Weisz says. "We found one photo of the old Gateway Food Store, and it's just incredible to look at. We pretty much just had that store for quite a few years... It wasn't until the late '80s that we actually expanded out with another location."

Taking Care of Customers

Playing off that classic children's bedtime story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," Three Bears quite literally strove to provide more towns with a business that was "just right" for them, Weisz says.

"At...