Our team at Skurla's wants to congratulate our friends at Mekong Market for the opening of their second location in Anchorage! This phenomenal market is located at the Bering Village in midtown Anchorage. This market will meet all your needs for Asian and Pacific Island specialty grocery items, but you cannot complete any grocery trip without grabbing a bite to eat from their hot bar. A personal go to for us.

Mekong Market needed a POS that could be multi-functional to handle retail, grocery, and hot bar purchases. Skurla's Grocery system powered by Auto-Star was the perfect fit. We were able to integrate credit card processing and EBT transactions to be an all in one transaction.  Our favorite POS systems are always modern, easily accessible, and cost effective for our customers, which is why we love Auto-Star. Mekong Market signed up for our PAS (Point of Sale as a Service) program. With one monthly fee they have an all- inclusive point of sale that comes with hardware, software, and in person support from our team at Skurla's. Utilizing PAS you will never have to stress over your point of sale, we are with you every step of the way. The Skurla's guarantee. Head over to Mekong Market to see our POS in action and try their delicious food!

With the acceptance of eWIC, many independent grocers are scrambling to make this transition.  One of our grocery POS Vendors, Auto-Star, provides grocery retailers an efficient method of accepting eWIC cards, while offering customers a quick and convenient checkout experience.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and infants and children up to age five.  Previously, these funds were distributed by checks that could then be used to purchase nutritional items from authorized grocers.

The new eWIC program replaces paper vouches allowing nutrition and food benefits to be processed like a debit card, integrated into the grocers point of sale.  Benefits include:

• Faster throughput at the checkout
• Improved customer service
• Fewer errors compared to check cashing
• Increased privacy and security for WIC participants
• The ability to purchase items over multiple visits
• Minimal cashier training
• Seamless inventory management

“We are excited to offer the eWIC integration to supermarkets across the country as part of our commitment to helping independent grocers better manage and grow their business,” said Josh Wintoniak, Sales Manager of Auto-Star.

"Our WIC program is moving from checks to an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card we're calling "eWIC." The new eWIC card looks like a debit card and has all of your family’s WIC benefits in one place."

• It's Fast
• Saves time at checkout!
• It's Flexible
• Buy as little or as much of your WIC food at a time!
• It's Simple
• No more paper checks!

Now with eWIC integrated right into the store's POS, it will be easier and more discreet for families to shop. No more separating WIC items at checkout and paying with a paper check.

Watch the video below to see how fast and easy it is to process WIC transactions with integrated eWIC.

What is WIC - WIC is a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, funded by the federal government.

What is eWIC (from the State of Alaska):

"Our WIC program is moving from checks to an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card we're calling "eWIC." The new eWIC card looks like a debit card and has all of your family’s WIC benefits in one place."

• It's Fast
• Saves time at checkout!
• It's Flexible
• Buy as little or as much of your WIC food at a time!
• It's Simple
• No more paper checks!

Now with eWIC integrated right into the store's POS, it will be easier and more discreet for families to shop. No more separating WIC items at checkout and paying with a paper check.

Watch the video below to see how fast and easy it is to process WIC transactions with integrated eWIC.