CARR GOTTSTEIN IS TESTING TOBACCO AND LIQUOR STORE

BARBARA McDONALD

NORTH POLE, ALASKA -- Carr Gottstein Foods is testing a dual-entrance concept in its new liquor and tobacco store that opened here this summer.

The new design has been executed in a 3,050-square-foot unit, which opened alongside a newly renovated 54,000-square-foot Carr's Quality Center supermarket in late June. Oaken Keg liquor store and the Great Alaska Tobacco Company, both owned by the supermarket chain, share the building.

The newly renovated supermarket anchors one side of a 7-store strip mall on Santa Claus Lane, the town's main street.

Carr Gottstein designed the liquor/tobacco store with separate entrances and a shared central island inside. One clerk can handle transactions for both sides, although two clerks usually are on hand.

Under Alaskan law, all tobacco products must be sold from behind a counter, and proof of age is checked scrupulously, according to company officials. Because of Alaska's strict liquor laws, no one under 21 is permitted on the premises where alcohol is sold, said liquor general manager Bob Klein. Tobacco products can be purchased by those age 19 or older in this state.

The alcohol and tobacco stores are separated so that customers who can buy tobacco but not liquor are allowed to do so, without entering the liquor store.

"This is a first for us," said Jeff Philipps senior vice president of the retail division. "We're doing it as a test."

The liquor store stocks 2,400 stockkeeping units of beer, wine and spirits and has found that traditional summertime drinks -- vodka, gin and tequila -- are the best selling spirits. As in the rest of the United States, Budweiser is the best selling beer, with Miller in second place, said Klein.

"Fourth of July [in the new store] was incredible," he noted. Klein credited the proximity of Chena Lakes, which draws many tourists in the summer. Promotions focused on price, since the retailer wants customers to associate lower prices with the new store, he continued.

Wine also does very well in Alaska, since everyone is from somewhere else, Klein said, and they are receptive to trying new products. "There's no provincialism. They'll try anything, as long as it's a good value.

"We have over 600 chardonnays alone, in the North Pole book. Not every store would have that many. We try to tailor the assortment in each store to the area it serves."

The new tobacco store carries 60 different varieties of cigars, domestic cigarettes, and 40 types of imported cigarettes, Richard Watts, general manager for the Great Alaska Tobacco company, told SN. Imports include Cove, a brand very popular among European visitors from Holland and Germany, Players, a Canadian brand, and Springwater, a cigarette with a vanilla flavor.

Flavored cigars are hot too, especially the less expensive short fills in vanilla and rum flavors. Sales of imported premium cigars are strong, reported Watts.

"Smoking a cigar seems like the right thing to do when you go fishing," he added.

Great Alaska carries pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco) and sells spittoons, "though we don't have one in the store," Watts said. All the Great Alaska Tobacco Co. stores are smoker-friendly, he added. Customers may smoke inside, and a smokeater clears the air.

Many types of smokers' accessories are sold, including SnuffIt, a popular ceramic disk that sits in an ashtray and automatically puts out cigarettes that are placed into it. It comes in brass and ceramic and retails at $2.99 to $4.99. Also popular are smoker candles, said Watts, which eat up smoke and sell for around $6.99.

Alaska has the highest taxation on tobacco products in the nation, according to Watts. The tax is $1 a pack or $10 per carton. "In municipalities where we have city tax, tax per pack can go up to $1.27. We are second only to Washington state," Watts added.

Cigar bars, well accepted in the East, do not exist in Alaska, Watts noted, although more bars allow cigar smoking than in other states he has visited. Carr Gottstein smoke shops promote cigars with socials, in which samplings of cigars are paired with single malt scotch and hors d'oevres.

Cooperating with a liquor distributor, Great Alaska Tobacco finds a restaurant that will host the cigar social, which all three sponsor. The event is held four times a year during fall and winter, when Alaskans are looking for indoor activities. The cost is $25-$50 per person, Watts said.