It’s become easier for Edgecomb residents to get a quick bite to eat or pick up some household items. The town is no longer without a general store. A Boothbay Harbor couple is leasing the former Cooks Corner General Store at 623 Boothbay Road and is pursuing purchasing it and the cabins there.

Edgecomb has been without a convenience store for the past 2.5 years, but that all changed a week ago when Cohen’s Corner General Store opened on Route 27.

The store is at in the same location as Cooks Corner General Store was. The new store is operated by Ronald and Juliette Cohen, who received tentative planning board approval Nov. 2. Ronald Cohen updated the three board members present about the couple’s plans. The Cohens are selling hamburgers, pizza, breakfast sandwiches and hot sandwiches along with a variety of beverages including soda, juice, beer and wine.

The store will be the second business the Cohens operate. They operate Above and Beyond Scheduling Services in Boothbay Harbor. The agency schedules certified nursing assistants and personal support services workers.

His employees’ comments inspired Ronald Cohen to pursue purchasing the 5.9-acre property. His employees regularly commented about the lack of a convenience store in Edgecomb and having to travel out of town to purchase household items.

“I heard from them about there being no store in town. They had to drive to Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta or Wiscasset to buy some milk. So ever since the store closed I thought about that every time I’d drive by. Finally, I asked my wife, and we decided to buy it,” he said.

The Cohens are leasing the property and working toward purchasing it. The property includes nine seasonal cabins. The Cohens plan to rent the cabins next year.  They also hope to develop five acres of the property’s back section into a camping area.

“A lot of people told us they want to camp in a tent, but they don’t want to do it in an RV (recreational vehicle) park. They want a place designed for a tent. This is something we’d like to do in the next five years,” Ronald Cohen said.

The Cohens hired two full-time workers and three part-time ones. The store is open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.