BAYVIEW - Visitors and residents can pick up that jug of milk soon.

The Bayview Mercantile, the community's only store, is scheduled to reopen at the end of this month.

It has been a long winter without one of the community's core businesses, residents and business owners said. The mercantile, located at 34135 W. Main Ave., closed abruptly last fall.

New owners Tim and Deb Zabawa have been busy cleaning and making updates to the building, including replacing the electrical, installing insulation and spraying on a fresh coat of paint. The Zabawas purchased the building two months ago, after it went to foreclosure.

"We had to put in a larger fishing section, because I'm an avid fisherman," Tim Zabawa said at the store Thursday. "We've doubled the size of the walk-in cooler."

The business will be a change of pace for Zabawa, who has been working as a tree-trimmer. The mercantile became available and he took a chance.

"I'm too young to retire, and I'm too old to keep climbing trees," said Zabawa, who lives in Farragut Village. "I've been coming down here for the fishing for a long time, for 20-plus years."

Store general manager Marie Streater, who previously worked at the store for two years and is a Bayview resident, said others in the community can't wait for it to open.

"You can drive a block or two down the road instead of eight miles to Athol or all the way to town," Streater said. "If you forget a last-minute thing, there's nowhere to go right now."

The store will employ four full-time workers, not including Zabawa.

Chris Gormsen, owner of Chris's Floating Pati-o Bar and Grill, said Bayview will have more to offer visitors and residents.

"All of the businesses are improving around town," he said.

Just 60 days ago, his floating bar got a license to sell hard alcohol. Mario's Mexican Restaurant recently opened, too.

That said, having the mercantile open is crucial to the community's overall health.

"Not having a store in town has been a killer," Gormsen said. "It has hurt all of our businesses."

"When it was open we were in there like, every day," said Teresa McCoy, a Bayview resident. "Everybody stops in there to get their beer, cigarettes, milk," meats, calling cards, movies, and plenty more.

"They have everything in there for us," she said.

For the elderly, it's simple to walk down to the store or take a golf cart.

"The mercantile has always been there - for years," McCoy said. Historic black-and-white photographs back her up.

Becky Manson, who was bartending Thursday at Chris's Floating Pati-o Bar and Grill, said it has been miserable in town without the mercantile.

"You can buy about everything there short of hard liquor," Manson said. "The store is definitely essential to this town."