A Sitka couple boats 20 hours each way every year just to shop Juneau’s half-size Costco, and spends about $10,000 stocking freezers for the fishing season.
The U.S. Sun reports that Shelby Ellingsen and her boyfriend Charlie make the annual run from Sitka to the Costco warehouse in Juneau, Alaska, with their friend Brandon along for the haul.
Sitka sits on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago. The community is reachable only by air or water. A direct flight to Juneau takes less than an hour. They take the boat anyway.
The trip is not a weekend errand. It is a supply mission for a working fishing crew and a whole circle of family, friends, and neighbors back home.
Charlie works as a commercial fisherman. The couple loads enough food to feed him and a five-person crew through the full summer season. Four freezers at home get filled.
Ellingsen, born and raised in Sitka and now in her 30s, also shops for people who never make the ride. Heavy staples go into the cart for others: laundry detergent, dog food, olive oil, and the occasional new chest freezer when someone needs one.
She told the outlet what keeps her hunting the aisles:
"I’m always stocking up on specialty items that we don’t have in Sitka, like the Butcherbox chicken sausage breakfast links. It’s so random, but they’re the best, and we can’t get them in town!"
On the same trip she said:
"We get a lot of large and heavy items for family and friends like laundry detergent, dog food, and olive oil. And there’s always someone that needs a new chest freezer."
The Juneau Costco is about half the size of a standard store, the warehouse often framed as the smallest Costco in the world. Ellingsen still spends roughly five hours there, shuttling between the aisles, checkout, and a rented U-Haul.
“I probably spend about five hours there between all the trips we make in and out. I could spend all day though, I love Costco and hate that I’m always rushed on this trip!” she said.
Between Ellingsen, Charlie, and Brandon, the yearly tab runs about $10,000. The cart covers meat, rice, high-protein snacks, Greek yogurt, cereal, tortillas, frozen pizzas, baking flour, bulk spices, hair spray, dry shampoo, Kirkland vodka, and the famous $1.50 hot dog combo.
Local prices explain the grind. Ellingsen said Sitka carries nearly a 100% markup on a lot of what they buy.
“Sitka has nearly a 100% markup on a lot of what we buy, so when you’re shopping for five guys on a fishing boat all summer, that adds up pretty quick,” she said.
A pack of 152 Kirkland laundry pods runs $22.99 at Costco versus $52.49 in Sitka for only 110 pods. A 25-pound bag of rice costs about $17 at Costco and $27 back home. A case of Rainier beer is $15 at the warehouse and almost $30 in Sitka, per Ellingsen.
While they are in Juneau, they also hit places Sitka does not have, including Home Depot and McDonald’s. Then the U-Haul load moves from truck to boat for the 20-hour ride home.
Remote towns still run on hard work and sharp shopping, not on hoping the markup magically shrinks.
