This Alaska town gets weekly barges. So why do people use Instacart to fly in groceries?

This is the second story in a four-part series from the Alaska Desk called Shelf Life , which looks at food security in Alaska.

In the very back corner of Skagway’s only grocery store, a laminated sign boasts: “LOCAL GROWN.” Above it sits a container with bundles of radishes. Next to them, a few boxes of greens.

But that’s all there is. Everything else in the store is shipped in from very far away – and it shows. While walking the aisles of the AC Fairway Market earlier this month, resident Katie Auer picked up a bag of partially wilted and bruised mini peppers.

“You’re telling me I’m going to pay 9 dollars and 29 cents for a bag of peppers, that I’d have to throw away over half of them?” she said, shrugging.

Grocery chain Alaska Commercial Company bought the store in 2021 from l