Heading out to Seward this summer? Check out these five new businesses.

Seward is one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations in the summer, especially around the Fourth of July, when the famous Mount Marathon race is held each year. The port city on the Kenai Peninsula has plenty to offer all visitors, from tourists and cruise ship passengers to Alaskan residents who enjoy fishing, boating and recreation.

This year, Seward has seen the opening of many new businesses, giving it even more to offer, so here are five new spots you should check out the next time you visit Seward.

Noisy Radish

Radi Kosenova has been working in restaurants since she moved to Seward from her native Bulgaria 12 years ago. A few years ago, friends started asking her when she was going to open her own restaurant. “But a few years ago, I wasn’t ready,” she says. Still, she enjoyed cooking for her friends, and they continued to encourage her. Rowdy Radish opened on May 14th of this year.

The location was formerly the location of Shebeen Cafe, so it already had most of the equipment she needed to get started, including a kitchen and an espresso bar. The name Rowdy Radish comes from her nickname Rowdy and her love of radishes. “The look and name of the place give the impression that it’s vegan or something, but it’s not,” she says.

Rowdy Radish will serve espresso and tea, as well as a variety of breakfast and lunch items, and Kosenova plans to keep it open year-round.

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. (225 Fourth Ave.)

Suparack Bakery

Growing up in Thailand, Supalak Furaad’s home didn’t have an oven, but she loved watching people bake bread. When she moved to Seward with her husband a few years ago, she started baking small loaves at home and taught herself by watching YouTube. Soon her husband encouraged her to open a shop at a local farmers market, and she did that for a few years before opening Supalak Bakery in early June in the building it shares with the Breeze Inn.

Supaluck’s offers a variety of baked goods, from cakes and cheesecakes to brownies, cookies and savory breads, some inspired by her upbringing in Thailand, such as matcha brownies and chiffon cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

“We do everything out of passion and love and want to support the local community,” she said, adding that they plan to be open year-round.

Hours are 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closed Tuesdays. (1313 Fourth Ave.)

Seward Sauna

Matt and Heather Ozerkoff began planning their mobile sauna business in November 2023 and began renting out their first custom-built, trailer-mounted sauna in April. Along with their business partner, Matt’s brother, Tim, they have completed two saunas and are nearing completion on a third, which will be 20 feet long and seat 10 people, making it the largest sauna the family has built.

The sauna is built on a small trailer home and features a cedar interior and a wood-burning stove. Large windows let you stay warm and enjoy the views. The sauna can be delivered to almost anywhere you can drive to, as long as you have a flat surface to set it up on.

“Guests can bring it to their Airbnb, their home or somewhere like this that’s further away,” Heather said, standing next to Godwin, a 16-foot sauna on a gravel road along the Resurrection River outside Seward. They also have saunas set up on Kenai Lake and at Fourth of July Beach in Spring Creek for guests who want to enjoy a cold bath as well.

Book online at sewardsaunas.com.

Dreamland Books & Yarn

Michelle Kowalski, owner of perhaps Seward’s coziest coffee shop, Resurrect Art Coffee House, is no stranger to cozy comfort, so opening a combined bookstore and yarn store seemed like a natural fit for her.

“We didn’t have a bookstore,” Kowalski says. “I love bookstores, and we didn’t have a yarn store. To me, they’re both great, so it just seemed natural to put the two together.” Dreamland Books & Yarn opened on April 27, Independent Bookstore Day this year.

Because the store is small, stocking the shelves has required a lot of intentionality. “I think it’s better to have small sections that are really carefully curated than to have a pile of books that no one wants,” she said. The collection also includes a section for local Seward authors.

Nine years of experience running Resurrected Arts as a safe and welcoming space for the community gave Kowalski the confidence to open Dreamland: “People are desperate for a space like this,” she says.

Open daily from 10am to 6pm (302 Washington St.)

Tufted Cannabis Lounge

Recreational marijuana has been legal in Alaska since 2015, but tourists arriving by cruise ship or train don’t have many options to legally consume marijuana. The nation’s first state-licensed cannabis cafe opened in Fairbanks in 2021, but only three new ones have opened since then, including Tufted Puffin on Port Avenue, which opened on May 18.

The eatery’s area is separate from the retail area, and it has an outdoor area for games like cornhole and an airy sunroom with couches and Bluetooth speakers where people can listen to their own music. “It’s nice to be able to say, ‘Come on in,'” to people from other parts of Alaska, or tourists who come off a cruise ship and don’t have anywhere legally to smoke, says manager Ben Cassoni.

The company has other retail locations in downtown Seward and Soldotna, the latter of which recently received permission to offer dine-in service, and Casoni said the new store is looking to enhance the customer experience by bringing in a DJ, hosting trivia nights and inviting groups to events like paint nights.

Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (408 Port Ave.)

[As the fervor for romance novels sizzles, a new Anchorage bookstore courts readers]

[Open & Shut: Anchorage adds an online ammo delivery business, a taproom, 2 coffee shops and an e-bike tour company]