ennies are so 2025. Penny production, that is. The US Mint struck its last batch of pennies on November 12, 2025, ending a 233-year tradition. The reason: over the past ten years, the price of producing a 1-cent coin had risen from 1.3 cents per penny to about 3.69 cents, the US Mint says. The mint expects to save around $56 million per year in reduced material expenses from stopping production.

“Given the increasing number of non-cash transactions and the very low purchasing power of a single penny, the Department of the Treasury does not believe continued production is fiscally responsible or necessary to meet the needs of commerce in the United States,” the US Department of the Treasury wrote in a frequently asked questions page about penny production cessation.

Although new pennies are no longer rolling out of presses, the 1-cent piece is still legal tender and still in circulation. It may be a little more difficult for businesses to purchase them to fill coin trays, but several Alaska business owners aren’t spending much time fretting over the availability of the nation’s smallest legal tender.

one are the days when merchants tallied up a client’s purchases on paper, rang it up on a cash register, and did all their bookkeeping by hand. While some Alaskans cling to certain traditional aspects of making a sale, more and more retailers and restaurateurs have point-of-sale (POS) systems that do much of the work for them.

“Everything is completely different now,” says Trish Moreland, a small business advisor at the Anchorage office of the Alaska Small Business Development Center. “Point-of-sale systems went from people using cash registers to ring things up, to barcode scanners, to POS systems that now integrate with a business’ inventory management pieces, payroll, and more.”

Customers can now safely shop online using ecommerce, pick up merchandise at the store, and find out from sellers via the POS system that their packages are on the way or what other offers are available.

n the first Friday of each month, restaurants, cafés, and galleries across Alaska feature new art from creatives. These First Friday events came to Alaska after starting in the ‘80s as a networking opportunity for young, Black professionals. The idea has expanded into a nationwide monthly meetup for both artists and businesses.

Erika Tripp grew up with First Fridays in Juneau. She works at her parents’ art gallery, Mt. Juneau Trading Post. The store has been open since 1967. She doesn’t recall exactly when the store joined the First Friday movement, but especially in the last ten or so years, Mt. Juneau Trading Post was hosting more and more. Until, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.

“When we didn’t do First Fridays, we could kind of feel… as the employees, or, the owner’s daughters, we could kind of tell when we weren’t taking part in it,” Tripp says. “It was just such a drastically different kind of divide, almost, where people were looking for First Friday signs. They didn’t come in if we didn’t have one, or if we didn’t advertise it.”

ince Alaskan Brewing Co. brought the craft beer craze to the state in 1986, the number of craft breweries has steadily grown, increasing from twenty-seven in 2015 to more than sixty in 2026. The Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade group, notes that Alaska consistently ranks in the top fifteen nationally for breweries per capita.

How do these breweries succeed in such a competitive field? It takes talent to brew great beer, but in a state where craft brewers face a lot of business, regulatory, and logistical challenges, making a profit by pints doesn’t come easy.

“Essentially, choosing to open a brewery in Alaska means also opening a logistics company,” says David McCarthy, founder and CEO of Northern Hospitality Group, parent company of 49th State Brewing and Alaska Pacific Beverage Company. “Everything is related to shipping, from the raw ingredients to the cans to the spent grains that have to be moved out of the brewery.”

he “Best Startup” category is absent from the 2026 Best of Alaska Business awards list; it turns out that the survey results didn’t produce a winner. In order for a company to be ranked in the top three of any category, it must receive a set minimum number of nominations and clearly receive more nominations than other companies that our readers love. For 2026, the votes were spread pretty evenly among several 2025 startups. Rather than just pick the winners ourselves, we transitioned the voting results into this feature, dropping the ranks but expanding the number of businesses that we’re able to highlight. In no particular order, Alaska Business is pleased to feature new businesses that have earned customers’ favor with products, spaces, and services they can see, hold, hang, taste, or visit.

nique among the Best of Alaska Business awards, the three 2026 Best Corporate Citizens are unranked and selected by the Alaska Business editorial team based on the number of votes they received; the comments from our readers accompanying those votes; and our own insights from interviews, press releases, and community projects.

In addition to the top three, we are including a list of all of the companies that were nominated in 2026 by our readers. A nomination to this list means that the company has had a lasting impact on at least one Alaskan, and enough of one that they were inspired to share with us.

Communities are built by many hands, and we’re honored to highlight those turning a great state into a good society.

fateful night on the frozen tundra ended the career of a North Slope workhorse. The Beast was getting ready for more exploratory drilling in January when its owner and operator, Doyon Drilling, Inc. (DDI), had to scrap those plans and mobilize an emergency response when the rig toppled. The labors to lay the Doyon 26 rig to rest were worthy of its legendary reputation. Although it had many years of service left, The Beast had already contributed to the Alaska economy in ways yet to be fully measured.

Arriving in Alaska in the tumultuous year of 2020 as Doyon 26, the machine was destined for a nickname. Designed from its inception as the world’s largest mobile land rig, The Beast was so-called because of its mammoth scale. Twelve modules worked in concert as the most efficient and advanced machine of its type, capable of feats never achieved before.

The flame that burns twice as big, burns half as long—and The Beast burned so very, very big in its short existence.

laska’s mining sector is a fundamental part of the state’s history, and it is a key to a prosperous future. In April, the Alaska Miners Association (AMA) held its 29th Biennial Convention in Fairbanks, looking back on successes while discussing the future of responsible mining. Keynote and technical speakers, short-course sessions, and a two-day trade show brought Alaska’s mining community together to share information, establish or build partnerships, discuss the issues facing the industry, and showcase the strength of mining, especially in the Interior.

he downfall of giants such as Blockbuster, BlackBerry, and Yahoo illustrates that indecisiveness is rarely about laziness. It’s often about choosing the proven path to avoid immediate risk, which unintentionally creates a long-term threat for survival. Each of those organizations prioritized preserving their existing, high-margin business models—late fees, physical keyboards, and traditional media advertising—over adopting disruptive innovations such as digital streaming, touchscreens, and search technology or mergers. Decision scientists call this “the safety trap,” a failure of leadership vision that mistakes stagnation for stability.

In an economy defined by geographic isolation, volatile resource markets, and a shifting workforce, playing it safe in Alaska often feels like the only survival strategy.

Most leaders don’t set out to fail; they get paralyzed by loss aversion, holding on to today’s sure thing (like Blockbuster’s late-fee cash cow) while ignoring the tug of their competitors or the market at their heels. This creates a cycle of wait-and-see, where leaders request one more data point or haggle over small-dollar decisions while the world moves on. It’s a classic leadership failing because “playing it safe” feels like responsible management in the short term, but within a fast-moving market, hesitation is really just slow-motion obsolescence.

irst, a scenario. Sarah was her company’s top project manager. She was technically sharp, reliable under pressure, and clients asked for her by name. When a team lead role opened in Maya’s division, Sarah was the obvious choice.

That was eighteen months ago. As VP, Maya closely monitored her division’s performance, and Sarah’s numbers had been steady. Now, one of Sarah’s employees asked for a meeting to talk about the team. Maya was curious.

Robert sat down across from Maya. “I’m being stifled,” he said.

“Tell me more,” encouraged Maya.

“I really like Sarah. She’s smart, a very hard worker, and she cares about people. But she’s not letting me help out. We have two new hires on the project. They aren’t superstars, but they are fine. However, Sarah is always jumping in and helping them with their work. I should be the one mentoring them, but when they get stuck, they talk to Sarah, not me, and Sarah helps them through the issues. It’s becoming the norm, and I think it’s undermining me as a tech lead.”

mcfarlanealaska.com

globalcu.org