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 1st Quarter
1% Giving Back Recipient

We are happy to announce our 2025 1st quarter 1% Giving Back Recipient, MANA Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage.

"Together we build a more resilient, equitable, empowered community."

Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) is Anchorage’s human-powered safety net. We create pragmatic solutions to address our neighbors’ evolving needs while honoring and connecting the communities we serve.

What is mutual aid? Mutual aid is collective coordination to ensure that the basic needs of all of our neighbors are met, acknowledging that our existing social support systems are not enough to meet those needs. Mutual aid is NOT new: it is the inherited wisdom of indigenous and Black communities whose survival depended on collective resource sharing. We believe that Anchorage is resource-rich, and that we are ALL healthier and lead more empowered lives when we actively care for each other.

What does MANA DO? Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) connects people within and among neighborhoods weave a stronger community. This means developing strong relationships within our neighborhoods, listening carefully, sharing our resources, caring for each others’ concerns, and advocating for change as we discover the often invisible injustices that impact the health and well-being of our neighbors.

What kind of aid can I request? Here are some of the ways MANA neighbors are showing up for each other:

Giving and receiving help with groceries, medicine or other essential supplies
Eviction prevention
Transportation for appointments
Relational connection to combat isolation
Assistance navigating and advocating for social services
Handyman help & basic home repairs

Learn more about MANA at @anchoragemutualaid on IG and FB or www.WeAreMANA.org

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

1% Giving Back recipients

MANA Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage
(current until March 31, 2025)

Past Recipients (since we opened in August 2019):
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

2023/22 Statistics:
WITH just a sampling of our more popular products, we (and our customers) saved over 37,000 pieces of garbage from entering the Landfill in 2023, and 28,000 in 2022!

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.