GAMETI/RAE LAKES - If you're one of the 307 people who call Gameti home, you likely already know how important Mabel Gon is.

There isn't a soul in town who doesn't rely on her at least once a week. Gon manages the Rae Lakes General Store - the only retailer in the community.

Over the past seven years Mabel Gon has worked her way up to managing the Rae Lakes General Store from her humble beginning stocking shelves. - John Curran/NNSL photo

It's the only source in town for food you don't have to catch yourself and wood that's not still growing on the land.

It's a job she said she understands well and one she takes very seriously.

"I started here seven years ago," she said.

"I worked my way up from working the cash and stocking shelves."

Getting a chance to work in all of the positions at the store at one time or another has given her a strong foundation for supervising the five full-timers employed at the store.

"I like being the boss," she said. "You get to make all of the important decisions."

The store, which she said is controlled in part by the Business Development Investment Corporation, recently completed its most critical quarter of the year.

"We get our winter road shipments in February, March and April," she said.

"So not long ago we got our shipment for the year ahead."

Four truckloads of non-perishable grocery items rolled into the hamlet - along with two more carrying nothing but lumber and another crammed with new furniture.

"It's far and away our busiest time of the year," she said.

"We generally need to hire more help when the trucks are coming in."

This year was no different, she added.

"We hired six or seven guys from Gameti on a part-time basis to help get through the rush," she said. "About three weeks after the road closed, we were still getting the back storage area organized."

A true community-minded business, Gon said she has always lived in Gameti and understands what items people need to find on the shelves as a result.

"We also try to be as reasonable as we can with pricing," she said. "People can't afford to pay too much here."

She said she's also sure to stock a good selection of craft supplies.

"We sell a lot of art supplies here, like beads and needles," she said. "We've got five or six main people in Gameti who make a lot of crafts and we're their only source for supplies locally."

The store also helps crafters market their wares, primarily to people visiting from outside the community.

In addition to being the local source for everything from albacore tuna to replacement zippers and everything in between, the General Store has several other services.

"We run the Internet service here," said Gon. "We're also the recycling depot here now, too.