Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/1518745
A S S I N I B O I A C H A M B E R O F C O M M E R C E Arctic Buying Company: Meeting the needs of the North By Kristin Marand F ood and product scarcity and astronomical price increases related to shipping to remote locations are common in the far north – a problem that Clifford Caners and Tara Tootoo-Foth- eringham are eager to remedy. Through Arctic Buying Company (ABC), with offices in Winnipeg, Churchill and Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, they serve the communities of the North by arranging procurement, packing, logistics and expediting. "Arctic Buying Company was founded out of a sense of community and a need for honest companies run by people with integrity and morals, rather than looking at the North as a cash cow for southern companies," says Caners, CEO of the Winnipeg operation and director of operations for the Kivalliq arm. "I knew the food service industry and had connections with vendors and the sales side of things. Tara had a restaurant, lived and worked in Rankin Inlet and had the connection to the customer," he explains. "So we joined forces, and away we went." ABC brings southern pricing to customers in remote communities by coordinating orders from various vendors in Winnipeg and abroad. Arctic Buying Kivalliq then retails those orders to the customers. It all began as an on- line grocery store. "We were the first under the Nutrition North Canada program to have a website where you could log in and place your order, and we would show you what you were saving with the government subsi- dy, which no one else was doing." "Tara and I both saw a need, and we both wanted to make a difference. We started with food, and before you know it, that turned into 'Hey, can you get me a vacuum cleaner? My vacuum cleaner died.' Eventually, that turned into every- thing and anything. Our motto is if you can think it up, we can ship it up. From parts to machinery to vehicles to flowers, birthday cakes, and ice cream cakes, you name it, we've shipped it." "We now service the residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and hospitality industries, and various government departments. We are doing more and more in northern Manitoba with Indigenous communities that are remote with only the ability to fly in or access via winter roads," he adds. 18 THE ASSINIBOIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • SPRING 2024 (Submitted Photos)