Shane and William John Butler owned a general store at the end of the 19th century. The building included a store and an apartment above it. In 1916, Joseph Lalonde and Napoléon Gagné became the owners, and five years later, Joseph became the sole owner of the J. Lalonde & Sons store.
The store opened at 6:00 a.m. to accommodate clients who stopped by the cheese factory early in the morning. The men visiting the store would give the clerk a list prepared by their wives. Anything could be found in the store: food, clothes, shoes, medicine, house goods, school supplies etc. A big reception hall was located upstairs where social activities took place such as weddings, political meetings, music events, and others.
All of Joseph's children worked as clerks at one time or another. Joseph Lalonde had a small mill built and it was managed by his sons Edgar, Omer and Conrad. Conrad became his father’s associate. After the war, Jean-Paul, Joseph's son, became a partner in the business. When Joseph died in 1948, Conrad and Jean-Paul expanded the mill operations.
In 1969, Jean-Marc became owner with his father Conrad and they changed the general store to a hardware and building material store. Jean-Marc later partnered with his brother Robert. Rapid growth required the expansion of the lumberyard and additional offices. To this day, J. Lalonde & Sons is still a booming business.