Three Bears Alaska opened its 10th store in 2017, in Healy. The new store meant residents didn’t have to drive 100 miles to Fairbanks for groceries anymore.
“Folks should certainly expect to see more Three Bears stores going up around the state of Alaska in the next one, two, three years,” said James Cartales, the managing director of Cascadia Capital, a Seattle-based firm that advised Three Bears on the deal with Westward Partners.on March 17. But Cartales and a Three Bears spokesperson both declined to say where the new stores may be built.
“In this particular case,” he said, “we don’t have a lot of information because this is a private-equity firm, and they’re helping to recapitalize Three Bears Alaska, which is also a private company. So they’re not required to tell us much of anything.” Cartales says the deal didn’t involve Westward Partners buying Three Bears’ debt. And the company spokesperson confirmed that the Weisz family, which launched the business in 1980, still retains majority ownership.
“As far as this transaction’s impact on them, it’s going to be business as usual,” he said. “There’s no change at the management level, there’s certainly no change at the store level.”
Noatak needs one!