Roger and Mary Hames at their corporate offices in Sitka. Roger Hames says the prospect of selling Sea Mart and the company’s other related businesses first crossed his mind in 2009, when Carolyn Hammack – who built Lakeside Grocery shortly after Sea Mart opened – sold her store to the Alaska Commercial Company. Hammock (who died in 2014) was a few years older than Hames, but he realized that his own retirement was coming, sooner or later. (Hames Corp. photo)
KCAW: I wonder if we could get this conversation rolling by telling me about the opening day of Sea Mart.
Mary Hames: It was December 18, 1978 we were just back from our honeymoon. We had to change our wedding date so we could get back to be there for the opening day of the store. And I remember it was so much fun, because days and nights before the opening, we were in the store, and we had to price-check every item, because we were the first store in Alaska, or Southeast Alaska, to have those scanners and have UPC codes. So we took one item off of each shelf, every shelf, and we all had shopping carts. There were a bunch of us – friends came to help – and we just had to price check everything. It was so much fun.
KCAW: I imagine it was a big stretch financially to go from small downtown stores to a big place on the oceanfront. You probably had some people backing you who were very anxious about that opening day.
Roger Hames: Yes, interesting enough I left college after only a year and a semester because I wanted to come back and be a part of the family business. I sat with dad in and mom in multiple meetings trying to understand, you know, and we met with various financial institutions that we went to see all over the country, and this is in ‘77 (we bought the property in ‘77 I believe it), and then had to get the store financed to build. And I remember it was a $3 million loan to get that done. And it was not easy. And every time we turned around, we were turned down for financing. You just have to do everything you can to appease and please and make the bankers comfortable. So that was an education in itself for me.
KCAW: I want to talk about the decision to sell. How long has this decision been percolating for you?
Mary Hames: At least a couple years.
Roger Hames: Yes, a couple years at least. I mean it’s always been in the back of my mind. And you know, a family-run business – it can be a blessing or it can be a curse, because it just can go either way. And the dynamics in a family operation, (family businesses are) just becoming less and less these days. And it doesn’t matter what the business is. In this case, it’s groceries. And so you think, ‘Okay, it’s going to be all right. You’ve got a lot of volume. It’s fast-paced. You’re turning your inventory all the time.’ But it’s not for everybody. And you know, I’m proud to say today we have five generations represented of the Hames-Rands family in our stores. It’s down to our grandkids who are checking in the stores…
Mary Hames: That’s really unheard of in a family business.
Roger Hames: It is, but to pass along a family-owned business to the next generation, it’s not for everybody. And that happened.
Mary Hames: And running an independent grocery store today is not what it was like 40 years ago, or even 20 years ago. We used to go to a convention once a year in the Seattle area – the Washington State Food Dealers – and it was a huge group of independent grocers. We got to know all the family grocers, and we helped each other out. But that organization folded because the independents were just going away. So it’s kind of a sad thing, but it’s just the changing of the times.
KCAW: How did the meetings go with staff?
Mary Hames: A lot of them said, ‘Why did you wait so long?’ Some of them said, ‘We knew this was coming.’ And some of them ‘Oh no…’
Roger Hames: ‘…It took me completely by surprise.’ And I think about their futures. We think about their futures. And you know in releasing control of something how many lives you’re affecting? And over the years, every time I sign payroll, which my dad says, ‘As long as you can sign a check, sign it, because a handwritten check is very important.’ So you are responsible for people’s house payments, for their rent payments, for their boat payments, their car payments, (Mary: and their food,) yeah, to have food on the table. And that is a responsibility that I do not take lightly.
KCAW: What steps can you take to preserve that essence of SeaMart? Is that something that you can build into a financial transaction?
Mary Hames: We’re hoping. However, we know ultimately that we’re not going to have any control. But finding the right fit, we have control of. We can help with that.
Roger Hames: I was surprised to know and find out there’s local interest that said, ‘You know, (we) wouldn’t mind talking to you about this.’ And it surprised me, and I’m thinking, wouldn’t that be cool to try to find someone locally, a group of people, another business, that could really make this happen? It’s not out of the question, but our net is cast very far and very deep and very wide.
KCAW: Who knows? But I have a feeling they’re going to have to come up with more than $3 million. That sounds like just inventory in a couple of aisles.
Roger Hames: At today’s prices, yes. (laughing)
Mary Hames: That’s just the eggs, Robert!
Roger Hames: Yes, our egg inventory: it’s in a vault now in the store. We have to lock it up. (more laughter)
Note: The Hames Corporation also owns Watson Point Liquors and the Cascade Convenience store in Sitka, and Newtown Liquor in Ketchikan. All will be changing ownership over a timeline that is uncertain. Roger Hames says the transactions could take months, or longer.
