Sitka family selling Sea Mart supermarket, other businesses to Albertson’s/Safeway
- Daily Sitka Sentinel
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Shannon Haugland
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Roger and Mary Hames announced Tuesday that after carefully considering all options and offers, they will sell Sea Mart and all their other businesses to the national grocery store chain Albertson’s/Safeway.
That includes not only Sea Mart, but Market Center, Watson Point Liquors, Cascade Convenience Center and Newtown Liquor in Ketchikan.
The closing date of the sale is expected to be January 30, 2026, said company president Roger Hames, who co-owns the businesses with his wife Mary.
“It’s emotional; it’s been a process, and we’re at peace with the decision we’ve made, and we’re anxious to get it done,” Roger Hames said today. “It’s been five generations who’ve worked there – my grandchildren are working there, as courtesy and checkers.”
Hames Corporation is the largest year-round private business in Sitka, with about 125 full time employees and more than two dozen part time workers.
Albertson’s/Safeway does not plan to change the names or logos for the stores immediately after the changeover, he said.
Also, Hames said, the new owners “intend to retain all current employees that wish to remain.”
The Hames family announced earlier this year that the family was beginning the process of selling their business entities in Sitka and Ketchikan.
On Tuesday, they sent out a letter to Hames Corporation, Triple C Ventures and Clearwater Bay corporation families, with a copy also to the Sentinel:
“While we initially explored many options, including the possibility of selling only certain parts of the business, we concluded that the best way to ensure a vibrant future is to sell all our business entities together, including Newtown Liquors in Ketchikan. After a thorough review process, we are pleased to announce that we have accepted and signed a Letter of Agreement with Albertson’s/Safeway.”
The letter thanks employees and staff for their continued hard work, dedication and resilience.
“This year has brought significant moments of change and reflection for our family and for the company, and through it all you have remained the steadfast core of this organization,” Roger and Mary Hames said in the letter.
“Barbara Hames, the matriarch of the family and one of the founders of the company back in 1949 was involved in the process,” Roger said today. “She agreed with it and was on board with letting it go.”
In the next few weeks, Albertson’s and Safeway will send a team to Sitka for store tours and meetings with store directors.
“They’ve been to town multiple times, and were very impressed with the business and employees, and vibe of the store," Roger said. "They liked what they saw, they really liked it."
The Hameses said there is a lot to be determined, but had two points for their workforce, that Albertson's/Safeway does not plan to change the names or logos of the stores, and intends to “retain all current employees that wish to remain.”
The two companies have begun a due diligence process.
The letter concludes with thanks to employees and staff.
The Hames family marked the 75th anniversary of Hames Corporation wiith a celebration last August. The family also marked Barbara Hames’ 95th birthday just before the 75th birthday of the corporation. She passed away July 3 of this year.
The history of the family in the grocery store business goes back to the opening of Market Center at the corner of Biorka and Baranof streets by Barbara's parents, Hopewell and Clarence Rands, in 1949.
“That was the birthplace of our business,” Roger said in an earlier interview.
Lloyd Hames, the Rands’ son-in-law, helped build the business, and planned to work there between semesters while he and his wife, Barbara, attended college at Washington State University.
“Hopewell and Clarence quickly realized they were in over their heads the first year of business,” Roger said, just before the 75th celebration.
Barbara and Lloyd came back to Sitka and quickly became involved in the growing business. They bought out the C.R. Rands Company in 1969, and changed the company name to Hames Corp. It was a continuation of the same company, just a different name within the same family.
“My dad told the story that my grandfather came to him one day, and said, ‘here’s the bag of money, here’s the key and we’re done. We want you to run the store,’” Roger said.
Clarence Rands was also a building contractor, and stayed involved in the grocery retail businesses through the 1980s, pitching in with remodeling and other fix-it projects “and whatever the latest idea was,” the family told the Sentinel.
In the early 1960s the business purchased Reed’s Cash Market on Lincoln Street, at the present location of the Cellar, and turned it into a grocery store called Center Superette. The name was later changed to Mark-It Foods, where customers used grease pencils to write the prices of items as they took them from the shelves in a warehouse-like setting, bagged their own groceries and wheeled them to the parking lot created in the back of the store.
“We turned the back of the store into the front of the store,” Roger said.
The Hames Corporation expanded to Ketchikan where it opened a grocery store and shopping mall in 1975, and a second store in 1981. Both were sold in 1993. The company opened the flagship Sitka Sea Mart on December 18, 1978, shortly after closing the smaller Lincoln Street store.
“We love serving and being a part of this community. That’s what we do; it’s who we are,” Roger said, at the 75th anniversary.
Mary and Roger Hames said today it's hard to imagine their lives without the stores.
"We've lived it and breathed it, our kids, too," said Mary, who has been involved in every aspect of the business. "It's what we talk about at the dinner table, it's been our whole lives, our whole marriage. We feel excited because we'll pursue things we want to pursue. But we're also concerned, it's like parents, pushing their kids out the door."
Roger attributed a lot of the success of the business to Mary, his wife of 47 years. Their three adult children, Andrew, Roger and Brian; multiple grandchildren and other family members have worked either full time or part time at some in their lives. Morgan, 15, is the youngest grandchild currently working at Sea Mart.
• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
