Home - REFILL. NOT LANDFILL.

WHO WE ARE

Blue Market AK is a small woman-owned neighborhood grocery store in the heart of Spenard, Alaska with a local-food focus and commitment to eliminating single-use plastics by adhering to “localvore” and “zero-waste” refillery models of shopping. We actively promote a circular economy by reusing, repurposing and recycling while featuring locally-made and -grown products and connecting small local businesses every day. A community-centered social enterprise, we give 1% back every day and feature locally grown/made, unpackaged or minimally packaged products.
Our Core Values shape every decision we make: Transparency. Sustainability. Community.

WHO WE SERVE

Conscious consumers who wish to reduce landfill waste, purchase healthy local foods and products and support their community have a place to feel at home here. For "slow shoppers" who enjoy a cozy environment with high quality choices, we feature a carefully curated selection of minimally packaged or unpackaged healthy, local, eco-friendly and affordable grocery, household, personal care and gift items.

TRANSPARENcy

We do the research so you don’t have to! We are transparent about who our vendors are and how our products are made. We vet and label all of our products, and rate them based on our Blue Market Standard of sustainable, humanitarian, community-minded practices.
We are also honest about the waste that we can’t avoid.

SUSTAINABility

We offer creative sustainable options for purchasing items with re-usable, repurposed, and recycled containers (new, from our "containers lending library," or from your kitchen).
Our Refillery Supports:
Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Repurpose
Recycle

COmmunity

Our store is more than just a shopping experience - it is inviting and creative, a conscious community of local vendors, shoppers and concerned citizens who want to change their habits to ensure a healthy planet.
Some ways we contribute:
1% Giving Back Program
Local Makers Pop-ups
Talk & Tinker Tuesdays
Partnerships

our 2025 2nd Quarter
1% Giving Back Recipient:
UAA Seawolf Food Pantry

We are happy to announce our 2025 2nd quarter 1% Giving Back Recipient, UAA Seawolf Food Pantry

The Seawolf Food Pantry began as a grassroots effort in March of 2022, formed by two faculty members in the Dietetics & Nutrition program at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).

Who Does The Food Pantry Serve?
Located on the main UAA campus, the pantry strives to support the nearly 45% of students who are food insecure. Since the program's inception, the Seawolf Food Pantry has provided over 17,000 meals to nearly 800 students.

What Does the Food Pantry Provide?
The food pantry provides goods to students and their household of up to four people twice each month. Goods that students can choose in the pantry include shelf-stable foods and beverages, personal hygiene products, small kitchen goods, and school supplies. As the pantry continues to grow in numbers being served, it has also been able to support one student worker each semester to work in the pantry and assist their fellow students.

How Does the Food Pantry Help Students?
Students who use the pantry have consistently expressed their gratitude that the service exists, and that it helps to divert some of their food costs each month to other high priority needs such as rent and attending college.

How is the Food Pantry Funded?
The Seawolf Food Pantry is funded through monetary donations and donated foods and goods. The students who use the pantry, as well as the faculty and staff who help support it, are grateful for the generosity of individuals and businesses who support us. Thank you!

Most of our amazing Blue Market AK family. OUR STAFF ROCK!!!

1% Giving Back recipients

UAA Seawolf Food Pantry
(current until June 30, 2025)

Past Recipients (since we opened in August 2019):
MANA Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage
Friends of Alaska 4-H
REAP (Renewable Energy Alaska Project)
Alaska Farmland Trust
Pinniped Entanglement Group
F.I.S.H. (Friends In Serving Humanity)
Alaska Park Foundation
FIG (Fresh International Gardens)
Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management
Children's Lunchbox / Beans Cafe
Bike Anchorage
Alaska Community Action on Toxics
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
Alaska Common Ground
Cook Inletkeeper
Anchorage Waterways Council
Alaska Food Policy Council
Alaska Sealife Center
Alaska Seeds of Change
AYEA (Alaska Youth for Environmental Action)
Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Friends of Fish Creek

2024 Statistics:
WITH just a sampling of our more popular products, we (and our customers) saved over 72,600 pieces of garbage from entering the Landfill in 2024! Almost DOUBLE our 2023 accomplishment!

You can sign up yourself on the Events tab of the website!

WHAT we do

Re-use/ Repurpose / Recycle
Vet vendors for sustainability
Essential grocery, home, health
Refill your containers (or ours)
Support Local Vendors (currently 54% of our vendors are local)
Giving Back - 1% every day
No single-use-plastics
Minimize waste
Build Community

our little blue market cart had a sampling of the products we now carry in our store

why we do it

To ensure that our blue planet's oceans and earth are healthy, sustainable, and endure for generations to come.
To be Anchorage's first neighborhood "unpackaged" refill store.
To foster a shift from quick, disposable shopping to mindful eco-friendly purchasing habits.
To join the global “zero-waste” movement.
To eliminate single-use plastics.
To emphasize sustainable local production.
To be a community-minded social enterprise

HOW we do it

Provide a shopping experience free from one-time-use-plastic-packaging
Alaska made/grown products (~40% currently)
Offer ethically-sourced products: fair trade, repurposed/recycled materials; unpackaged; from companies that give back to their communities
Reduce our carbon footprint
Build a conscious community of environmentally-aware consumers
Give back to earth-friendly causes every day as 1% of our revenue goes to a nonprofit chosen for the quarter.