About three weeks ago, Scheessele, the store's owner, placed cardboard signs on the porch of the neighborhood convenience store stating "Please help! We need your business now!"
On the store's front counter, he has placed copies of an open letter he wrote to customers, asking [image-nocss] them to remember the store the next time they need a carton of eggs or a sandwich for lunch.
"I probably should have brought them out a long time ago," Scheessele, 60, said of the signs. "I have no other way to keep my business open. I'm fighting to exist here. We're not asking for a handout. We just want people to give us their business."
His plea is a familiar call in rural towns across New England, said the report. Many are struggling to keep alive country stores that are sometimes the social epicenters of the community. In Connecticut, Colebrook residents formed the Colebrook Preservation Society in an attempt to revive the Colebrook store, and the Roxbury Market is undergoing renovations and is scheduled to reopen later this month under new ownership, the newspaper said.
Scheessele estimated that his sales are down close to 60% since 2007. He said he has tried to think creatively to cut costs, shutting down several refrigeration and freezer units altogether and installing timers to cut back on electricity use.
He said small-town convenience stores across the region face the same two problems-growing numbers of chain stores and a slowing economy.
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