Burden's Store, Burden's Trucking & Burden's Ice Plant

Burden’s General Store, Burden’s Trucking, Burden’s Ice Plant
St. Lunaire, NL

When Graham Burden opened his doors in 1959, he was located in a small “bunkhouse,”
a small building just ten by twenty feet. The business was located near his house in St.
Lunaire until moving to its present location in 1987, with one expansion about ten years
ago and another one in the works. Today, the store is centrally located in St. Lunaire and
sells groceries, hardware, and building supplies. Eight of his nine children work in the
family business, and I was lucky to speak with his children Karen, Kerry, and Keith,
about their family business. Graham is semi-retired, though Karen notes they keep him
informed and ask his opinion on any business decisions.

Karen has worked at the family business her whole adult life, or as she says, “I always
say since I could work. I worked afterschool and on weekends.” She enjoys working at
Burden’s, noting, “I like the busy-ness, dealing with the public, meeting all these people,
I love getting up in the morning and coming here because every day is different.” Karen’s
friendly demeanor is always a pleasure for customers, as is her helpfulness. She works in
accounts receivable and payable as well as working on cash.

Burden’s Store appears to have a “following” not only in the local area but from the St.
Anthony region and also Raleigh and Ship Cove. One may think, “If you cannot get it at
Burden’s – you don’t need it!” The family extends a warm welcome to everyone who
walks through their doors – and often greeting them on a first name basis. They have a
weekly flyer, and if any item is not in stock, they will special order and do that as soon as
possible.

Karen, Keith, and Kerry at Burden's General Store 

Keith runs Burden’s Trucking and Burden’s Ice Plant, which is located at the wharf in St.
Lunaire. The company owns seven tractor trailers and two flatbed trucks for cargo. As
Keith notes, “mostly we truck fresh fish, shellfish, groundfish around the island; we take
frozen product off the Northern Peninsula into Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.” They
also have an offloading company that offloads these products before they’re shipped to
other locations. The ice plant provides ice for the offloaded product as well as ice for
interested customers.

The family enjoys working together and serving the public. Many of the eight siblings
have lunch every day at their mother’s house and it’s not uncommon to see their smiling
faces at Burden’s General Store every time you enter. It was a pleasure to learn more
about this important business in our community. Thanks, folks!

Kayla Carroll
Coordinator
Vinland Futures Research and Development Corporation
www.vinlandfutures.ca
@vinlandfutures