Dan Plamondon can’t find much to gripe about these days.

Business is steady, faces are friendly and the community at large seems appreciative. Then there’s that commute…

“It does get a little slippery once and a while,” he tells The Ticker. “But even if I walk slow, it takes about 12 seconds to get here.”

Plamondon owns and runs (truly runs – he logs at least 80 hours a week, every week) Cherry Bend Grocery in Elmwood Township. Because he’s almost always there, and because his store sits on a very highly traveled road leading in and out of the county, he’s one of Leelanau’s most familiar faces. What that means, of course, is that the county’s faces are familiar to him, too.

As The Ticker sat with him to discuss the past, present and future of his beloved shop, a customer walked in to buy a few things. Before this customer could even get the request out, Plamondon was reaching for the items. One step ahead. 

This is something that repeats itself many times throughout the day, though Plamondon is always practicing restraint.

“Dad always told me to not assume what they’re going to want. Even if they come in every day and get the exact same thing, still go ahead and wait for them to ask,” he says. “So, I knew what he was going to say, I just had to wait for him to say it.”

Plamondon’s parents, Lake Leelanau natives Earl and Blanche (Gauthier) Plamondon, bought a grocery store on the site in 1937, establishing the modern Cherry Bend Grocery. They built the existing building in 1948 after a road relocation project meant the original structure had to be demolished.

They built a home next door in 1940 and raised eight children there, with Plamondon the youngest. Later, when Plamondon got married in 1985, he and his wife Dawn built the home one lot over.

“I was born and raised on this corner, and I’ve lived on this corner over 63 years now,” he says. “And I’ve walked to work every day of my life.”

When Plamondon first started out as a young boy, his father had him counting penny candy. By his junior year in high school, the succession plan was in place – he would buy the store from his parents. He went to Northwestern Michigan College for a business degree, then on to the National School of Meat Cutting in Toledo. He officially bought the store in 1985, the same year he got married.

Plamondon takes tremendous pride in owning and operating his small business. The grocery sector in particular has consolidated tremendously, leaving very few independent outfits in operation. He’s been careful over the years to pay very close attention to his business operations with an eye on survival.

 “A lot of businesses fail because they just don’t have the capital. They’re great at what they do, they’ve got a good product and everything, but all of these things come up that they’re not accounting for,” he says. “My dad always said that whatever you think it’s going to cost, double it.”

Prices continue to pinch Plamondon and others doing what he does. It's just a fact of life, he says.

“We've had to start going into town and buying at retail cheaper than I can get delivered at wholesale,” he says. “Not beer and wine and liquor because that's state regulated, but other grocery items."

He's able to keep prices down in part because of low overhead. Not surprisingly, it all goes back to him doing most of the work himself. 

"People come from all over to get our good quality meat at really good price and a lot cheaper than the meat markets in town because of their overhead," he says. "I do it all myself. I do all the cutting, all the steaks and ground beef."

Pricing and other challenges aside, Plamondon acknowledges that the amount of work required to be successful at an independent small business is a significant barrier to entry and can burn even the most dedicated folks out.

“Who wants to work seven days a week all of their lives? Certainly not nobody, but I think the younger generation wants to divvy up their time better between work and play and family time and all of that,” he says. “That’s just not how I grew up. I had to be here to make a living. Twelve, 14-hour days all my life.”

Despite the heavy workload, Plamondon has managed to get plenty of play and family time in over the years. He raised four kids and now has six grandkids. He’s also an extremely avid outdoorsman, and his shop is loaded with wildlife and fish mounts along with photos from his conquests.

“This place is both my work shop and my man cave,” he says. “That’s what I like to tell people.”

And Plamondon is also fortunate that his son, Travis, is ready and willing to take over the business when he retires. Not that he’s in any rush.

“When I get up in the morning, I still love to come to work, and not everybody’s that lucky,” he says. “And the business is secure. We’re not getting rich, but we made a living.”