A feasibility study is the likely next step in exploring the idea of getting a grocery store into downtown Wiscasset, an organizer of the effort said.

Participants last met March 15. Lucia Droby said summer has slowed but not halted the work.

Droby’s work on the Wiscasset Art Walk installments, which wrap up Sept. 29, has been keeping her busy. So has some work she’s been helping the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce with, so no new meetings have been held and none are scheduled yet for the fall, Droby said. Meanwhile, participants are still doing homework such as checking out community stores in the area as possible models for one in Wiscasset, she said.

The state’s ongoing planning for possible traffic changes and other downtown work has not posed a problem for the exploratory effort, Droby said. Early meeting-goers had eyed Haggett Garage on Water Street as a possible store site. Since then, the Maine Department of Transportation has been considering the building for purchase and removal to make room for a parking lot.

”I don’t think whether or not Haggett Garage goes or stays is the deciding factor” in the prospects for a grocery store or pharmacy, which has also been discussed, Droby said.

It really comes down to whether or not the local economy could sustain the store year round, and that’s a question that remains to be answered, Droby said.

That’s where the feasibility study would come in, she said. Grants may be one option to fund it, and Town Planner Ben Averill will be looking into whether the University of Maine System would be interested in helping, Droby said.

Interviewed separately, Averill said he had contacted the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. However, due to the academic schedule he wouldn’t expect to be able to discuss the idea further with the school until fall, he said.

Averill agreed with Droby on the importance of determining the outlook for a store. “I think the best bet would be a feasibility study. It would (provide) the information that’s needed,” he said.