"Furconomics:" The Economics Behind Fur Rondy – Alaska's News Source

Fur Rondy is less than one month away, and fur-based businesses are already seeing an early increase in customers.
Gus Gillespie has been in the fur trade since 1986. His store, Alaska Fur Exchange, has been at the corner of Tudor Road and the Old Seward Highway since 1991. He regularly experiences an influx of customers, mostly for the native community, as the preparations for Fur Rondy begin.
“The value of the furs will go up and down from year to year,” said Gillespie, “but the people are usually in here at about this time. They want to get their furs ahead of time to participate in all the Fur Rendezvous festivities.”
While the current market for fur certainly isn’t what it once was, Gillespie says it’s pretty good at the moment. The boost in business created by Fur Rondy usually helps his store and other local furriers finish out the winter season nicely.
“Fur is still strong in Alaska, but one of the problems is it is getting harder to find tanneries inside the state,” said Gillespie, “I ship my furs to New Jersey to be tanned.”
David Green Master Furriers has been synonymous with Fur Rondy activities since they opened up shop in Downtown Anchorage, and the early buzz surrounding Fur Rondy usually results in extra traffic for their stores as well.
“We certainly get excited about this time of year,” says Debbie Grashin, “Fur Rondy is a time when we have a lot of people that come in and they like the big hats that they won’t wear any other time than the Rondy, and now the Iditarod … stuff with the faces and the paws and the tails hanging down.”
The Fur Rondy festival isn’t just a bonus for furriers. The sheer amount of foot traffic generated by the event spells packed hotels and more customers for everyone.
“We did an economic impact survey in 2013 and 61% of the people said they came to visit Alaska because of the fur rendezvous, ” said McCleary. “We’re going to be launching a new economic impact study this year in hopes that we can re-verify some of those numbers.”
The same study found that the average Fur Rondy visitor spends an at least six days in the city, spending around $475 per day, before hotel and airline costs.
Touching on numbers from 2003, McCleary says that Fur Rondy’s “direct dollar impact” on Anchorage was around $12 million dollars. After this year’s study, we’ll have a clearer idea of how much is being brought in during the 14-day-long festival.

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