For more than 60 years, the Nukko Lake General Store has been giving locals the convenience of buying groceries, hardware and gas without making the half-hour trip into Prince George.
It's also operated as a clearing house for local news, gossip and simply as a place to catch up with the neighbours on the latest goings on.
But all that will come to an end on Oct. 3. That's when Richard and Clara Allen, both 72 years old, will be closing its doors and moving on.
Despite the long hours - for many years they worked 12-hour days - the couple consider themselves lucky, even privileged, to have pursued their line of work.
"It's been wonderful here actually because we've always had good customers," Clara said. "You know everybody, it's a community.
"It's not like if we were on a road somewhere where people just go through that we don't know. We've known them forever. It's nice to deal with people that you know and you like."
The store has been in the Allen family since 1952 when Richard's father and uncle bought the business. The two had also been operating a sawmill and a few years later, they split the assets with Richard's parents, Frank and Ida, taking over the store.
The current version was built in 1966 - a photo of its predecessor hangs on the wall at the front of the store. The year before, Richard married Clara who had moved from Dome Creek in 1963 to teach at the local school.
Richard, who has been working in the store since he was nine years old, continued to lend a helping hand while Clara would work every second weekend so Frank and Ida could get some time off.
That lasted until 1979 when Richard's parents retired for good and Clara came onboard full time.
For years, the store was opened from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The Allens still found time to raise three children - Tracey, Lana and Christopher - sometimes with a little help from the patrons.
"We used to bring Tracey over when she was just a baby and we would put her in a (shopping) cart, we'd put her in a little box in there, and the customers used to wheel her around when I'd be at the front and she'd be crying or something," Clara said.
As the children got older, they also helped out. The knowledge has even been passed onto the next generation.
"Our oldest daughter, she has two daughters, and they know how to look after the front and they know how to count the money back to the customers," Clara said.
Photos of their four grandchildren are on display beneath the glass at the front checkout and customers often remind the Allens to keep them updated so they can watch them grow.
That's only the start of what makes for an interesting visit.
Along one wall is a collection of odds and ends to do with farming, logging and woodcraft - milk cans, saws and planers. Most of it came from the farm in Dome Creek where Clara grew up while the rest came from relatives, friends and neighbours.
"After they left the farm, they thought they'd bring it in so we could could hang it on the wall," Clara said.
Along the other side is a menagerie of taxidermied game and furs. Some are trophies taken down by Richard or one of Clara's brothers while the rest were bought from trappers.
"Years ago we used to have quite a few trappers in the area, like three or four," Clara said.
Among her favourites is a martin with mostly orange fur and a white head. The trapper they bought it from said he's never seen anything quite like it.
The Allens are still unsure about what they're going to do with all those items once the store closes.
"A house cannot hold them all, and they're well done," Clara said. "The wolf rug is a piece of beautiful workmanship."
At the very back, there are three recliners where locals would gather to exchange gossip.
The stock also runs the gamut.
The Allens hold a licence for a rural agency liquor store and beer, wine and liquor are among their biggest movers, thanks in part to a walk-in cooler where some of the stock is kept.
Cigarettes, pop and chips are also among the major sellers but you can also pick up a full range of groceries as well as choose from a strong selection of hardware and automotive supplies.
"It's a small Northern Hardware," said Richard, who added they use the same wholesaler.
He said deciding what to carry has simply been a matter of figuring out what people want. It helps that customers "ask for one thing."
The gas pumps out front serve more than just the usual traffic. Farmers will pull up in their tractors for a fill up, as will ATV riders in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter, most of them coming over from Pilot Mountain.
The store has also acted as a "last stop" for hunters heading out into the bush.
In all the time they've been there, the store has suffered just one break in and that was "years and years ago." After that, they decided to keep the lights on overnight and there hasn't been another episode like it since.
In January 2013, Richard suffered a stroke. Shortly afterwards, the hours of operation for Tuesday to Saturday were cut back to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and, with their ages advancing, they eventually decided to put the business on the block.
Up for sale was a 2,400-square-foot building with a full cement basement, the store's inventory, a Quonset hut on the property and the gas and propane pumps. Their asking price dropped to $225,000 but while there was some interest, there were no takers.
So they decided to slash the price of their stock by 50 per cent - liquor remains at the government-regulated prices - and set a date to close it all down.
The last day of business was originally scheduled to be Sept. 30 but it was moved back by three days so all the family could make it up for the final closing.
The property will be put back up for sale in the spring at roughly the same price but without the inventory.
The Allens say the store has done well by them and believe it can still be reasonably viable.
"(It's) busy enough," Richard said. "I think it would make a living for a single family but not much more than that. There are lots of things that they could do that we don't do because we're old."
Nukko Lake has changed over the years, according to the Allens, who say the sense of community is not as strong as it used to be. The interest in the community hall has died off, there are fewer dances and no one teaches water skiiing anymore, they note.
The store will be missed.
Kevin Lowes lives in Mandalay, about 20 minutes past the store, and once it's gone, he faces a 45-minute drive into town to get small but helpful items.
"It's just so valuable to all of us out here,"said Lowes, who has lived in the area for almost five years. "I could get bolts, I could get whatever I needed."
He said it would be a shame to see the store leave to the area.
"It's the only one. There is nobody else out here."
For Nukko Lake resident Lamont Stevens, it was a general store and then some.
He called it a "great meeting place" where "everyone kept in touch."
"Every day there were always people that would meet there and invariably there would be a 'visit' going on in those chairs in the back - the social aspect will be a real loss.
"If you were looking for someone to plow your driveway in the winter or any other job all you had to do was ask someone down at the store or check or post on the bulletin board."
Reg Foot, whose family has owned property in the area for more than 80 years, described the Allens as "very compassionate and always willing to support local events in the area."
"They also extended credit to those less fortunate in the area," he added.
The Allens will continue to live in their home across the street, looking out onto Nukko Lake. They also own what used to be Richard's parents' home next door, adding up to 500 feet of lake front.
Clara's immediate goal is to "tidy up my yard," and Richard wants to install a dock he bought last year but hasn't yet put up. There's also a jetboat he hasn't touched in two years.
And they plan to visit their children and grandchildren, who all live in the Lower Mainland, more often.
"Over the years, when you're working 12 hours a day, you just don't have the time to be doing the things you should be doing because you can't," Clara said. "Now we'll have lots of time."
- with files from Samantha Wright Allen
