Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

This building was built in 1824 by James Manson.  Around 1900, it was known as "The Windsor Hotel".  Around 1910, F. N. Corriveau purchased the building and made it into a general store.  (See plate # 91 of Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton, and note the hitching post for horses in the front!)

From 1915 to 1918 the general store was owned and operated by C. H. Gilman and A. Heath, who then sold to Joseph-Alfred Giroux in 1918.   J.-A Giroux continued to operate a general store with his nephew Gédéon Giroux.  Succeeding generations of the Gédéon Giroux family have operated it since: Gilles and his wife, Suzelle Bernier-Giroux, ran it with sons Pierre, the late Paul, and daughter, Marie.  Their oldest daughter Lyn made her life as a nurse elsewhere.  Pierre married Suzette St-Onge, a local girl, and they had two sons: Daniel, who now owns the retail business operating under the Rona banner, and Jean-Franà§ois, who owns and operates the Shell gas station in Mansonville. 

Giroux's Store is the oldest continuously family-run business in Potton, serving generation after generation of farmer and cottager alike with efficient friendliness.  In 2012, Giroux's Store, as it is still called, operates exclusively as a hardware and building supply store under the Rona banner, but in years past, it was a true general store selling everything from foodstuffs to coal oil by the gallon, rubber boots and overalls, blankets, nylon stockings to yard goods, pharmaceuticals for animal husbandry and sewing notions, appliances to farm tools.  Rare was the item they did not stock.

In a short conversation with Pierre recently, it was learned that it was his maternal grandfather, Omer Bernier, a contractor specialized in heating and plumbing from Saint-Hyacinthe, who installed these essential requirements in Saint-Cajetan Church, when it was constructed in 1950.

This building has strong heritage value, according to its classification by Claude Bergeron, who was commissioned by the Municipal Council to evaluate the buildings within the urban perimeter of Mansonville.  The classification considers only the heritage value with no particular weighting as to its authenticity.

Please have a look at the interpretative panel affixed to the store's front.  It was placed there by Potton Heritage Association to identify buildings of note featured in Une promenade au village de Mansonville, the brochure accompanying a walking tour of Mansonville.