Photos: Troop cutbacks worry business owners

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Linda Kimball, co-owner of Good Friends Barber Shop on Boniface Parkway, is worried the eight-chair business will suffer the effects of troop cutbacks on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Kimball and colleagues used to work on base, and opened a shop nearby to cater to members of the military as well as Anchorage police and fire personnel and civilians. Her business card advertises military cuts, flattops, fades and business man cuts. Patches from customers adorn the wall behind her, alongside a flag flown in Afghanistan on a combat medevac mission.

With Alaska facing a possible recession brought on by persistently low oil prices and a retraction in state spending, its largest city is coming to grips with a looming reduction in Army troop levels that could put a noticeable dent in the job market and greater economy.

Effects from the decision to cut 2,600 troops from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will ripple out from areas with a high proportion of military residents, such as Eagle River and northeast Anchorage, to the municipality as a whole, economists predict.

"It's going to take a big chunk out of the Anchorage economy," said Scott Goldsmith, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research.

In strip malls lining Boniface Parkway, down the road from the base, emotions among business owners ranged from anxiety to stoic acceptance.

Read more: Anchorage braces for economic impact of JBER troop drawdown