MASARDIS, Maine — With one of the state’s largest lumber mills located in town and more than 1,000 commuters passing by everyday, LouAnne Deabay thinks there’s a good opportunity to open a general store and food shop in Masardis.
Deabay wants to open a convenience store named Mama Lou’s next to her home on Route 11 in Masardis and is currently applying for a Maine Community Development Block Grant to help make that happen.
“I’ve been working on this for the last two years,” Deabay said.
If the grant application is successful, “I’m hoping to open by September 1st for bear season,” she said.
Masardis is a small town south of Ashland with less than 300 residents, but it’s also home to Maibec, Aroostook County’s largest sawmill, and sees more than 1,000 daily commuters passing through, Deabay said, citing a Maine Department of Transportation study.
The town has been without a convenience store since a fire destroyed a similar business in 2014, and Deabay said that she thinks there is an unmet need for a food and convenience store serving millworkers, commuters, hunters and anglers and others passing through.
“We’ll have lunch specials, pizzas and subs, groceries, coffees, baked goods and items for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and ATVs,” Deabay said.
She’s seeking a grant of $50,000 from the Maine Community Development Block Grant Program. She’s wrapping up the application in the coming weeks and also planning to discuss her plans at Masardis’ annual town meeting at 7 p.m. on April 10.
The grant would require her to hire at least two employees. She also would be financing the business with a $45,000 loan from the Northern Maine Development Commission and her own investment.
Deabay said she’s expecting to hear if she wins the grant award by late spring. “If I find out, late May or early June, I’ll probably start building right away.”
