Alaska Rubber & Rigging Supply has been serving Alaska’s industrial since the 1980’s and now has opened a branch in Kenai to better service the resurgence of the oil and gas industry in the Cook Inlet. “Alaska Rubber group (ARG) is an employee owned organization that started its first store in Anchorage in the 80’s and in 2006 the employees bought the store and became an employee owned organization, the in 2009 we bought the Fairbanks store and opened one in Wasilla and now have a branch here in Kenai,” said ARG chief executive officer Mike Mortensen. Mortensen was down for the open house barbeque held last week at their new location on the Spur Highway formerly Randy’s Glass. “We are the State’s largest supplier of industrial and hydrolytic hose assemblies, we also do rigging assemblies and rigging accessories for lifting,” he said, “But no tires, we get asked that a lot,” laughed Mortensen. “Alaska is an oil province and that’s why we’re here, outside of the support we give to the mining and fishing industry the Alaska oil and gas industry is our number one customer and we have definitely seen an uptick here on the Peninsula and have been asked to open a location here for several years for local convenience and here we are. Independent contractors, big & small businesses, trade groups and major conglomerates including local and national governments, rely on Alaska Rubber’s fully-stocked warehouses, outstanding customer service and advanced certifications that enhance all of our unique wide-ranging capabilities. Reliability is more than just a word – it’s our mission at Alaska Rubber. Reliability means having the products on the shelf that you’ve come to depend on, and always having the answers and information for your critical applications. Reliability means consistent performance, coming through in a pinch and continuing to go above and beyond what you’d expect from your supply company. We strive to prove this every day, and pride ourselves on being truly reliable,” Mortensen told the Dispatch.

Over a hundred visitors turned out for the open house and barbeque even in the rain to welcome Alaska Rubber Group to Kenai, “We’ve had a tremendous show of support from the community here, we were surprised to see so many turn out and we really appreciate it, we have stores in various communities throughout the state and we like to give back to the community and be part of it so it was a great feeling to be welcome by all these folks down here. Randy had a beautiful facility here and he was good enough to lease it to us so we plan on making this home for a long time. While we are the state’s biggest supplier we know there is competition so we invite anyone to ask us to bid or give quotes on any of our lines and are more than willing to talk about the products we offer,” said Mortensen. Stop by the Alaska Rubber Group anytime Monday- Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm and meet branch manager Kevin Calhoun and visit their website at www.alaskarubber.com.