LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - T.J.'s Grocery served its last customer on March 2.

The doors to the convenience store and gas bar located on Fort Simpson's main street closed on Tuesday, bringing an end its 29 years of business. Gord Villeneuve, T.J.'s owner, said a number of factors - including management from afar and the high cost of electricity - led to his decision to shut down the store.

The closure of T.J.'s Grocery in Fort Simpson has ended 29 years of the business being operated by Jim Villeneuve's family. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Seven people - four permanent and three students - have lost their jobs as a result of the closure.

Villeneuve has been managing the store from Fort Smith since moving there in 2002. Long-distance management has been difficult, he said. Starting a new job this month, however, was the tipping point.

"I just didn't have the time to put in," he said. "I think it was just time for me to step away and let it go."

The store, which is now up for sale, has a long history in the village and with Villeneuve's family.

Slim Jones, Villeneuve's great uncle, constructed the building and opened the business during the late 1960s. The store, which sold groceries, was known locally as Slim's Store, said Jim Villeneuve, Gord's father.

In the early 1970s, with his health failing, Jones offered the store to Jim, his nephew. Jim said he declined because he was busy with his career and raising a family.

"I had no yearnings to go into business," he said.

The store passed between a few owners including John Kidd, who then owned the Nahanni Inn. Kidd sold it to Harry Yee and in 1981 Jim ended up buying the store from Yee.

"All of a sudden I decided I wanted to get into business after all," he said.

It was in 1981 that the name of the store was changed to T.J's, the initials of Jim and his wife Terry.

"We wanted a challenge and we certainly built it up from the time we bought it off of Harry Yee," said Jim.

The couple changed the business from being a general store to being a grocery and convenience store. Over the years different additions were added to the original building and the gas bar was installed in the mid-1980s.

"We had very good support from the community," said Jim.

Most of the local people who now work for various government departments in the village held their first job at T.J.'s, Jim said.

"As my dad liked to say it was a government training grounds," said Gord.

Gord built his own career at the store, taking over the management from his father after graduating with a management studies diploma in 1992. In 1996 he purchased the business.

"I liked having my own business. I liked being my own boss," he said.

Gord said it was difficult to close the store after it had been in the family for 29 years.

"It's not a decision you come to lightly," he said.

The customers, the employees and the community have been great over the years, he said. He added that he hopes someone will buy the building and open the store again.

"I think the market is there and the customers are there," he said.