QUILCENE — Gasoline is expected to be available for sale in Quilcene on Saturday for the first time in more than two years.
The Village Store at 294235 U.S. Highway 101 has been closed since 2009 and is being renovated by a team of volunteers led by Tom Brotherton.
The interior is newly painted, and a new floor has been installed, with a projected opening of the store sometime next year.
Up until then, gas will be sold from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays through Mondays every week except the upcoming weekend, when gasoline is expected to be available Saturday through Monday.
“We don’t make enough money on gas to support someone being here all the time, so we want to wait until the store is ready before we keep regular hours,” Brotherton said.
Once the store is open, hours will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Brotherton said, though he added that could change later.
Saturday’s gasoline sales will represent a soft opening prior to the grand opening planned Saturday, Dec. 3, said Cass Brotherton, who will run the place along with her husband and their children.
On that day, the community’s car club will display cars beginning at 10 a.m. — if it doesn’t snow — and hot dogs will be sold, she said.
The 4,000-square-foot space is large enough to offer a variety of goods, and the Brothertons hope to turn it into a place that has more depth than the average convenience store.
“We are going to have to sell the stuff that everybody expects like chips and pop,” said Tom Brotherton.
But he also hopes to offer healthier options than what is normally available at a convenience store.
“We want to carry some of the locally produced food,” he said.
“A lot of things are grown or produced here, but people need to go out of town to buy them.”
The store also will also have a beer and wine license, he said.
The Brothertons would eventually like to have a sit-down meal area, but the current septic system won’t support that.
“We’ll need to have the septic system redesigned, so food service is something we can do in the future,” he said.
The gas pumps, while modern, do not have card readers built in, so gasoline will not be available when the store is closed.
This is deliberate, Tom Brotherton said, to encourage people to come into the store.
Gas prices also are yet to be determined, but he expects them to be competitive with other stations.
The gasoline sold will have no brand name because it is being purchased directly from the supplier, said Brotherton.
The station will offer diesel fuel and two grades of gasoline: 87-octane regular, which contains ethanol, and 92-octane premium with no ethanol.
Branded stations can’t sell gasoline without ethanol, Brotherton said.
“People who own high-performance older cars tend to prefer ethanol-free gasoline,” he said.
Volunteers have pitched in on the effort to open the store because of a need to have a gas station in town.
A corporation, QVS, was created to support the Village Store, with investors kicking in for startup and initial operational expenses.
Brotherton won’t say how many investors are active or how much money is available — only that there is enough to stay open for five years.
The Village Store is the first idea to come out of Quilcene Conversations.
It spawned the ongoing community improvement group.
One year ago, a meeting was called to discuss bringing gas to Quilcene, and about 60 people turned up.
It turned out that many had ideas for improving Quilcene.
“There were all these really good ideas,” said Linda Herzog, who went on to set the foundation for Quilcene Conversations, which has held regular meetings.
Quilcene Conversations has since targeted five areas of community enhancement: to beautify Quilcene, help business, monitor youths, develop a community identity and improve outdoor signs.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
