It’s a crisp, bright fall morning when Julie-Ann McNeilly drives down a dirt road, gets out of her pickup truck, and dives deep into the history of Johnny’s Store.

Built in 1902, the store is considered one of the oldest in Alberta and has long served as a gathering place in the hamlet of Namao, just north of Edmonton. At one time it also housed a post office, and McNeilly’s grandmother worked as one of Alberta’s first postmistresses.

Her property has changed hands several times, she said. His family took possession in the 1930s, after his great-uncle became a trader.

“My grandfather bought it in 1949 and his name was John, so it became Johnny’s Store,” she said. “We decided to keep that name because everyone knows it as Johnny’s Store.”

McNeilly and his brother Brendan spent hundreds of hours bringing the store back to life. It has been closed since 2018, after briefly serving as an artisan market, and is expected to reopen by November 28.

The space must offer the essentials of a general store, a cafe and a bar.

The inspiration came after McNeilly’s father passed away in 2020. He had been on the market for a while, but selling the store didn’t seem like a good idea, even after an offer was made.

“We grew up going to the store, eating ice cream and seeing our family be part of the community,” she says. “It was very important for us to continue this legacy.”

McNeilly says she and her brother have made many updates to honor the store’s history while bringing in modern amenities. Crumpled wallpaper revealed a barn board from the early 1900s. Antique decor lines the walls. Remnants of knob-and-tube electrical wiring hang from the ceiling.

Even the floors are sloping.

McNeilly added a coffee area near a bay window with bistro tables and booths. Out back, a new bar has Johnny’s light lager on tap.

Indoor plumbing is also a new addition that the duo is slowly adjusting to, McNeilly says.

“My brother always runs back (outside) to go to the bathroom.”

McNeilly says Johnny’s design is a product of its times, which is why the storefront – with its white façade and round Coca-Cola signs – has been featured in several films and TV shows.

American actress Kathy Bates directed scenes from the 2003 TV movie “Fargo” in the store. The Canadian series “Blackstone” was also filmed there for a time.

One day, a few friends texted McNeilly to tell him they had seen the store in a Netflix movie.

“It was a Liam Hemsworth movie called ‘Cut Bank’ with Billy Bob Thornton,” she says, referring to the 2014 crime drama.

“Liam Hemsworth walks past the store, runs to a fake phone booth outside, answers a call, and rushes back out. So there are things the store was in that I didn’t even know about.”

Without outside help, restoring Johnny’s to its former glory has been a labor of love, McNeilly says. It’s also a sort of return to basics. McNeilly left Edmonton about 20 years ago, but returned for the project.

It also made McNeilly feel closer to his brother.

“There’s not a day that my brother and I don’t like to come here,” she says.

“Everything has really come together and it’s really special.”

Namao, Alberta is 20 kilometers north of Edmonton.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 16, 2024.