The area surrounding Manistique Lake is scattered with resorts and campgrounds and cabins that are visited by tourists and snowbirds in the warmer months and snowmobilers in the winter. But Hank’s also serves the permanent population, who can rely on the general store being open 365 days a year.

A store has been on the spot — on the east side of Helmer Road, also known as County Road 377, south of its intersection with 10 Curves Road, since 1910. Current owner Chad Ketola remembers growing up calling the store Connie’s.

Connie — her last name was thought to be Jeykel — was the owner at the time but she had taken it over from her parents, who developed the store as a general retailer that the community relied on.

Its official name was Helmer Grocery for a long time.

The interior of Hank's General Store in Helmer. (Photo courtesy of Chad Ketola)

When Connie passed in the early 2000s, she willed the business to Steve Taylor, who changed the name of the business to Taylor’s Market.

The store continue to operate and sell the same sort of products it had under the previous owner — necessities and miscellany to keep folks from having to drive to Newberry.

Around 2014, the biggest transition in the store’s century of operation came when a fire burned down the old store.

Still under Taylor, the business continued with a new structure — a sturdy pole building of about 3,500 square feet.

Ketola purchased the place from Taylor in June 2021. He renamed the business Hank’s General Store after his grandfather, Henry “Hank” Ketola, a lifelong area resident who had operated a service station in Seney and worked for the Schoolcraft County Road Commission.

The northern lights shine over Hank's General Store. (Photo courtesy of Chad Ketola)

When Ketola took over, he made some small changes that included expanding the frozen foods section and implementing a hand-thrown pizza dough in the kitchen, as opposed to the partially baked kind that had been used previously.

Besides being a store people can count on for supplies and a gas station with regular, premium and propane, Hank’s General Store is known for its full deli, sub sandwiches, pizza and wings.

It also has a large selection of wine, a walk-in beer cave and liquor.

Ketola said the subs are particularly popular — they sold 15,000 last year. The top choices are the super sub — made with ham, beef, turkey and provolone — and the Italian, which comes with pepperoni, salami, ham and mozzarella.

The place is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the year, including holidays. It employs seven in the off-season and 11 in the summer.

During the summer, when people are stocking their cabins and enjoying vacations, the store flies through products in all areas, Ketola said. This time of year, it’s more local traffic buying one or two items at a time, a sandwich or nachos or pizza by the slice.

“We hear all the time from people that a store being there is a staple in the area,” Ketola said. If it weren’t for Hank’s, “you’d have to go a long ways to get what you need.”

Ketola says he also tries to keep prices as competitive as possible so customers don’t get gouged in exchange for the convenience of having a store so close to the prime camping spots between North Manistique Lake and Manistique Lake.

“We work with our vendors, our grocers, and we try and make a spot that locals can shop and have a fair price,” Ketola said.

Hank’s General Store is at 2936 County Road in Luce County — about as far southwest of McMillan as it is northeast of Curtis.

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R. R. Branstrom can be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 140, or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.