The Store Next Door
Just 10 kilometres northwest of the village of Wakefield, Que., you’ll find yourself in the bucolic rolling landscape surrounding the hamlet of Lascelles. Originally a pioneering community, it was built at a crossroads and featured two churches, a general store, a post office, a school, a blacksmith shop and a cheese shop. While few of those remain today, the general store is still there — under new ownership — and it remains a comforting vestige of the past, not to mention a stomping ground for a few ducks and chickens that like to visit.
It started with a neighbour and a beer.
One spring evening in 2021, Dave and Becki Irvine, who have lived next door to the general store in Lascelles for more than a decade, had a friend over for a pint. As the evening flowed, so too did the conversation and the suggestions that the Irvines would be the ideal new owners for the store that was about to go up for sale.
Having been customers for years, there was no denying that the couple felt a special attachment to the store, in fact, their daughter, Esmé, even worked there while going through school.
“When Esmé told us that the previous owners were thinking of selling, we didn’t think much of it,” explains Dave Irvine, a professional photographer and a long-time bartender at Kaffe 1870 in Wakefield, owned by his sister, Leigh Irvine and her husband, Jeff Hardill. “But, be it the beer or the thought of being shopkeepers, our friend’s statement got us to thinking that if we could buy it, we could keep it the same and mitigate the risk of it dramatically changing somehow.”
Known to locals as “The Outpost,” the general store was the last stop en route to cottage country, so to speak, where, as Irvine says, the beer was always cold and you could grab whatever you needed without having to go back into town.
But, for the Irvines, the store was also much more than that. “We always appreciated the previous owner’s responsibility to the community, from supporting local to catering to the community’s needs for meat, dairy and grocery,” Irvine says as he gestures to the front window, to see where their dogs, Gary and Mona, several chickens and their two ducks, Mayham and Donna, like to wander the front parking lot welcoming customers. “It’s just a cool little spot — a community hub without being pretentious about it. I think that is what we love about it.”
A new sign
With new owners, comes a new name. And, a brand new sign. Deviating from the flash and bling of big-box stores, general stores have been the cornerstone of small towns in Canada for more than two centuries. In fact, the term general store came into use during the early part of the 19th century, when the growth of what was referred to as “general” shops or stores in agricultural settlements of Upper Canada was first officially recognized.
With that in mind, the Irvines renamed their store to Magasin Général La Pêche. They asked local woodworker Dave Bradley of Nordic Woodshop, to make them a sign inspired by a sketch of the store drawn by artist Andie Haltrich.
“The store hadn’t had a sign for years,” Irvine says. “So, it was very important to us right off the top to give it back some identity.”
Homegrown character oozes from the wooden sign, inviting new customers in to explore the store and walk its floorboards that are grooved in the centre from hundreds of feet that have passed over them. With dark, worn woods and painted shelving decorated with old-timey handwritten menu boards, the Irvines pack the store with the basics: beer, milk and bread, but also with a growing array of locally sourced goods, which are for resale and use in their housemade goodies. From cheeses, dairy and Älska Maple Syrup to VOX Kombucha, Ferme et Foret granola and cranberry juice from La Valle des canneberges, as well as jams from Quail House (the Quebec Association for Independent Living) and honey from Martin Schultz Apiaries in Shawville, the Magasin Général La Pêche is an eclectic mix of gourmet and everyday flavours and products.
The sandwich wizard
The general store had a kitchen before it was bought by the Irvines, however the previous owners focused mostly on preparing meals to go, such as traditional lasagnas and shepherd’s pies. For the Irvines, however, they saw untapped potential and an opportunity for some kind of immediate growth.
The Irvines decided to create and offer daily sandwiches. After all, sandwiches are having a moment right now — and it’s not hard to see why. Over the past year, restaurants around the globe have pivoted to include more casual, carryout-friendly options that cater to our lockdown lives. The Magasin Général La Pêche was no different when it sold its first offering of creativity and comfort — the breakfast sandwich.
While not a trained chef, Irvine had worked at his sister’s establishment for many years, and, as he tells us, he is a self- confessed connoisseur of flavour. “I really just cook the way I like to eat — jalapeño relish? Sure, why not. Pineapple salsa? Heck, yeah. I love pepper and garlic and hot peppers,” he says emphatically. “These are all recurring heroes and heroines in my food. I love thinking that pesto and Dijon could work as a marinade and then making it work somehow.”
Often referred to as sandwich wizards by their customers, the Irvines pump out new menus for their handhelds daily. “Most days, I don’t know what sandwich I will make until the day of,” explains Irvine, who spends most of his time in the kitchen, while his wife runs her bookkeeping business, when not pickling or making her now famous cabbage rolls and macaroni and cheese. “The most consistent thing about (our menu) is that it is inconsistent. We have a lot of fun with the idea, and it seems to create a bit of intrigue with our customers. My favourite compliment is when I begin to describe my panini du jour and the customer tells me the it doesn’t matter what it is because everything has been so good.”
Everything is made on site and served until it’s gone or until 2 p.m. — whichever comes first. There are vegetarian and gluten- free options, but also combinations such as pulled pork, complete with homemade buttermilk coleslaw, or the “Slammi,” which features zucchini relish, salami, banana peppers, provolone and mayo. There’s even a panini cheese sandwich made in honour of another local resident, Tom Green, that boasts parmesan, mozzarella, smoked cheddar and tomato jam.
“I love a dirty sandwich — something that I have to eat over a sink or bathe after eating it,” Irvine says, and after one scroll through his Instagram feed, jam-packed with mouth-watering creations, you’ll be reaching for a napkin or two yourself.
It’s also a destination
As a kid growing up in Alberta, Irvine has fond memories of The Grocery Cart — the little convenience store up the road from his house, where he and his friends bought Slurpees and, if equipped with a handwritten note, a pack of Rothmans for his dad.
“We’d sit on the curb, eating Freezies, just watching the world go by, without really knowing we were watching the world go by,” Irvine continues. “There is something really special about the idea of a general store, to be sure.”
It’s that romantic nostalgia that inspires the Irvines these days. And it's the conversations with neighbours and customers.
“One of my favourite conversations to have with folks is about their drive out here, when they let me know how beautiful it is, and how they hadn’t been out this way for years,” Irvine says. “I hope customers have a great journey to get here, and then they have great food and look for great, local products, grocery, deli and dairy. Our employees are some of the friendliest you’ll ever meet, and are so incredibly helpful. You can feed the chickens, laugh at the ducks, pet the dog and maybe even find a cat waiting to rub up against your leg in the parking lot.”
While they didn't set out to be shopkeepers, the shop and the Irvines might just have been meant to be.
Magasin Général La Pêche
360 chemin des Erables, Alcove, Que.
819.459.1930 | @magasin_general_lapeche
