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LaFreniere's General Store

Also LaFriere's Store · LaFrenier's Store · LaTreniere's Store · LaFreniere's Grocery Store · V. H. LaFreniere General Store · Dick's Store

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Within Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeOrganization
Founded1941
Dissolved1977
Coordinates45.7474° N, 85.5197° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
WithinBeaver Island · Saint James
ErasModern era
On this page
Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Within Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
Organization
Founded
1941
Dissolved
1977
Founded by
person/nels-lafreniere
Coordinates
45.7474° N, 85.5197° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
economycommunitycommerce
Within
Beaver Island · Saint James

Summary

LaFreniere’s General Store was one of Beaver Island’s two general stores, operating on the St. James harbor from 1941 to 1977 under the LaFreniere family and known locally, for most of that span, simply as “Dick’s Store.” The Beaver Beacon prints its name at least four different ways across the 1973-1976 issues at the center of this record – “LaFriere’s,” “LaFrenier’s,” “LaFreniere’s,” and, once, “LaTreniere’s” – while its own classified advertisements consistently give the proprietor as “V. H. LaFreniere, General Store.” A 1977 retrospective, published when the store changed hands, traces the business back to a McCann family store and dock built on the same site in the late 1800s, sold to Nels LaFreniere in 1941, and run after his 1945 death by his sons Dick (Vernon Hugh “Dick” LaFreniere) and Patrick, brothers of Archie LaFreniere of the Shamrock Bar. The store was sold in October 1977 and renamed Rafferty’s General Store.

History

The fullest account held for this store is a single retrospective the Beacon ran in October 1977, when it changed hands: “James McCann, an enterprising and energetic man of many talents foresaw the potential of a strategically located store and dock” and “built the store in the late 1800’s,” fitting it with oak shelving and counters shipped from Grand Rapids, alongside a dock and shed for buying and selling fish. James died in 1927, reportedly at age 104, leaving the store to his son Mike and Mike’s wife Annie, who ran it until 1941.1 The commerce and island business survey separately documents a James McCann who arrived on the island with his parents in 1884 and opened a general store in the J.H. Dorrance building; whether that is the same man as this store’s founder is not established by the sources read for this article, and the two are not merged here.2

In 1941 Nels LaFreniere bought the store, moving his own operation there from a smaller store on the same street. At Nels’s death in 1945, his sons Dick and Patrick took it over jointly; Patrick soon reopened his father’s old, smaller store separately – by June 1977 it had become “Archie and Mark LaFreniere’s Gift Shop,” run by another son, Archie, and grandson Mark.3 Dick – Vernon Hugh “Dick” LaFreniere – ran the main store for what the 1977 retrospective calls “the past three and better decades,” during which it was “referred to as Dick’s Store” as often as by any formal name.1 The store carried an I.G.A. wholesale affiliation by 1955, when Dick refitted “his I.G.A. emporium” with new flooring, and its safe – “in use on the island since 1898,” predating the LaFreniere ownership – made a 1971 Charlevoix newspaper photograph when Dick shipped it to Charlevoix for repair after reading of a break-in at his “mainland counterpart,” Edwards IGA.45 A 1961 Boat Company advertisement, cited via the commerce and island business survey, and the 1971 Charlevoix Courier item above both independently confirm the island had exactly two general stores in this period, without naming either.6

The store’s own advertising in the Beaver Beacon is the primary record for its final years. From December 1973 through December 1976 it printed an annual holiday greeting – “LaFriere’s Store,” “LaFreniere’s Store” – signed “Dick & Jean,” donating to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards, and ran a running classified for Beaver Island souvenir patches priced at one dollar, postpaid, through “V. H. LaFreniere, General Store.”78910 The store also served as a public gathering point and civic reference: a February 1974 zoning-hearing notice names it, alongside McDonough’s Store, as a place to examine the proposed township ordinances, and a January 1962 item reports the departing winter ferry’s farewell foghorn answered “from Dick LaFreniere’s store” on the harbor.1112 In October 1977 the Beacon reported the store sold to Mrs. Harriet Rafferty, her daughter Kathleen, and son-in-law Rick Speck, and renamed Rafferty’s General Store.1

Names

No source held here gives the store a single settled formal name. Its clearest self-description is a January 1966 New Year advertisement signed “FROM - LAFRENIERE’S GENERAL STORE - VERNON H. LAFRENIERE.” Everything else in the record is a variant: “V. H. LaFreniere, General Store” on its patch classifieds; “LaFreniere’s Grocery Store” in a 1962 fire report; and, across the 1973-1976 issues this record was originally built from, “LaFriere’s,” “LaFrenier’s,” and “LaTreniere’s” – the last two visibly one letter short of or different from “LaFreniere,” and treated here as spelling variation rather than a different name. Colloquially, by the Beacon’s own account, it was “Dick’s Store” for most of its three-and-a-half decades. This article treats all of these as the same business and records the spellings as alt_names, not as evidence of a different, unrelated store.

Significance

The store’s 1977 retrospective is one of the fuller ownership histories held here for any Beaver Island business, tracing a single harbor storefront across three families – McCann, LaFreniere, and, from 1977, Rafferty – and nearly a century. It also resolves an identity question this record inherited from the LaFreniere family’s own person articles: Vernon Hugh "Dick" LaFreniere’s open question of “what year did Dick and his family end store ownership on the harbor” is answered directly by the 1977 sale documented here.

Open questions

  • Is the James McCann who built this store in the late 1800s the same James McCann documented in Commerce and island business as arriving in 1884 and opening a store in the J.H. Dorrance building, or a different man? No source read here settles it.
  • Was James McCann really 104 at his 1927 death, or is that a rounded, community-remembered figure rather than a documented age?
  • What deed or probate record, if any, documents Nels LaFreniere’s 1941 purchase or his sons’ 1945 division of the business?
  • How long did Rafferty’s General Store operate under that name after 1977?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, October 1977, “General Store Changes Hands.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Project article, “Commerce and island business” (theme). ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, June 1977, community notice. ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, May 1955, item beginning “Main Street is taking on a new appearance.” ↩

  5. Charlevoix Courier, 1971, photograph and caption of Vernon (Dick) LaFreniere. ↩

  6. Project article, “Commerce and island business” (theme), citing Charlevoix Courier, 1961, Beaver Island Boat Company schedule advertisement; Charlevoix Courier, 1971 bound volume (above). ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, December 1973, “Merry Christmas And A Happy Healthful New Year.” ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, January and February 1974, classified advertising, “Patches.” ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, April 1974, classified advertising, “Patches.” ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, December 1974, December 1975, and December 1976, holiday greetings. ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, February 1974, “Beaver Island Public Hearing Notice.” ↩

  12. Beaver Beacon, January 1962, “Goodbye, Dear Old Girl.” ↩

The dated record

5 dated events · 1973–1977These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Prints a holiday greeting from "LaFriere's Store," signed "Dick & Jean," announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards. Does not establish the store's formal legal name.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-12_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-12_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Advertises Beaver Island patches for $1.00 postpaid through "LaFreniere's Store," signed "V. H. LaFreniere, General Store."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-01_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-01_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Repeats the patches offer through "V. H. LaFreniere, General Store"; a separate item reports Ed Wozan bought his winning lottery ticket "from Jean and Dick LaFreniere's Store," and a public-hearing notice lists "LaFreniere's Store, St. James" as a location to examine the proposed township zoning ordinances.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Advertises Beaver Island patches through "LaTreniere's Store" and "V. H. LaTreniere" -- a one-letter spelling slip from the surrounding issues' "LaFreniere."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-04_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held seven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-04_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Prints "LaFreniere's Store," signed Dick & Jean, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Prints "LaFreniere's Store," signed Dick & Jean, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-12_Beaver-Beacon
  12. The held issue confirms the printed store name and donation notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-12_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Prints "LaFreniere's Store," signed Dick & Jean, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-12_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The held issue confirms the printed store name and donation notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-12_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Advertises patches at "LaFrenier's Store" -- a spelling missing the final "e" -- signed "V. H. LaFreniere, General Store, Beaver Island, St. James, Michigan."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-04_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Reports Dick (Vernon) LaFreniere installing new flooring in "his I.G.A. emporium," confirming the store's IGA wholesale affiliation by 1955 and distinguishing it from Archie LaFreniere's Shamrock on the same street.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1955-05_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Charlevoix Courier, 1971, photograph and caption of Vernon (Dick) LaFreniere.
    Captions a photograph of "Vernon (Dick) LaFreniere, proprietor of the general store on Beaver Island," shipping his own 73-year-old store safe -- "in use on the island since 1898" -- to his "mainland counterpart," Dick Edwards of Edwards IGA in Charlevoix, after reading of a safecracking there. A separate item in the same bound volume calls Jean LaFreniere "wife of the proprietor of one of the island's two general stores." Exact issue date not confirmed beyond the year 1971. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · charlevoix · charlevoixcourie1971unse
  18. Lists refreshments for a Civic Association square dance as donated by, among others, "V. H. LaFreniere Store" -- distinct in the same item from "Musette's Souvenir Shop," a separate LaFreniere-family business. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1958-09_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Describes the ferry Emerald Isle's farewell foghorn as it left for the winter, "answered" from "Dick LaFreniere's store," placing the store on the harbor.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-01_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Prints "FROM - LAFRENIERE'S GENERAL STORE - VERNON H. LAFRENIERE" in a New Year greeting, the fullest formal rendering of the store's name found in this project's held sources.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1966-01_Beaver-Beacon
  21. States that "Dick's" or "LaFreniere's Store" was sold and "will now be known as Rafferty's General Store," to Mrs. Harriet Rafferty, her daughter Kathleen, and son-in-law Rick Speck. Gives a full retrospective history: James McCann built the store and dock "in the late 1800's" to serve the island's fishing and lumbering trade; his son Mike and Mike's wife Annie operated it after James's death, reportedly at age 104, in 1927, until 1941; Nels LaFreniere bought the store in 1941, moving his operation from a smaller store (by 1977 Archie and Mark LaFreniere's Gift Shop); at Nels's death in 1945 his sons Dick and Patrick took over, Patrick soon reopening his father's old smaller store separately, leaving Dick to run the main store, popularly "Dick's Store," for "the past three and better decades." This is a single 1977 newspaper retrospective, not a deed, probate record, or business ledger, and its James McCann is not merged here with the James McCann documented in [[theme/commerce-and-island-business]] without further evidence. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-10_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Reports "Archie LaFreniere and his son, Mark, have leased the old LaFreniere Store and have opened a second gift shop there" -- confirming, before the October retrospective, that the smaller original store had become a LaFreniere family gift shop. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-06_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Project article, "Commerce and island business" (theme), citing Charlevoix Courier, 1961, Beaver Island Boat Company ferry-schedule advertisement.
    The 1961 Motor Ship Emerald Isle season-schedule advertisement states "Food and Supplies Obtainable at Two General Stores on the Island," confirming exactly two general stores in that era without naming either. Read via the project's commerce survey rather than independently verified against the Courier bound volume by this article. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · themes · commerce-and-island-business
  24. Identifies the 1896 McCann’s Store, later known as Dick LaFreniere’s Store, Rafferty’s General Store, and Dockside Market, as the future Beaver Island Community House across Main Street from the new Boat Company dock; this provides the historical building chain but not a surveyed footprint. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1997-03_Beaver-Beacon
  25. The current map result places the Beaver Island Community Center at 26215 Main Street, approximately 45.7474151, -85.5197161. This is used as the successor-building representative for the documented McCann–LaFreniere–Rafferty–Dockside chain; the sources do not independently prove that the current footprint is unchanged.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “LaFreniere's General Store”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/lafrieres-store-1973/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, December 1973, "Merry Christmas And A Happy Healthful New Year." (and 24 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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