The K&W Country Store off Falmouth Road will reopen this Monday, says owner Wayne Lewis. For over a month now, residents of the surrounding farm-zone have had to go elsewhere for their milk, eggs, sandwiches and other convenience needs. Since late March, K&W’s doors have been locked and chained shut, its sign out front briefly stating that the store was ‘under renovations’. That sign has since changed to advertise that the store is now hiring as the owners gear-up for its reopening.

Wayne and his wife Kelly Lewis closed the K&W in hopes of selling it to someone who, in Mr. Lewis’s words “wanted to run it as a neighborhood store.” Though the store will reopen next week under regular hours (6 a.m. to 8 p.m.), the K&W Country Store will continue to be on the market.

The country store located in East Windham has had a long history on Falmouth Road. Many may remember the K&W under its former name, “Mac’s Country Store.” Robert MacDonald originally built the store in 1971 and, from the beginning, “Mac’s” was a family affair. MacDonald had always wanted to own a little country store, says his family. MacDonald had owned the land where the store now stands and had a farm next door where he, his wife and his many children had raised pigs, chickens, cows and ponies. Over the summer of 1971, MacDonald shut down the farm and built Mac’s Country Store with the help of his son Jim MacDonald. His sister Jennie Hall, who had run a filling station on Baker’s Corner with her husband, then aided MacDonald with the upstart of the business.

Through the years, MacDonald ran the country store as a family business with many of the MacDonald children lending a hand. MacDonald’s daughter Judy Burrows, who worked in the store as a teenager, remembers the time fondly, “Those years working for my father Bob MacDonald were some of the most pleasurable of my life. It was wonderful working in a place where you could greet neighbors, friends and others. I can truly say Mac’s Country store was a convenient neighborhood place where many people enjoyed trading for some of their basic needs.”

The store later became the “K&W Country Store” when MacDonald sold the business to the Lewises in 1986. Since then, the K&W has had a steady patronage of regulars who have shopped there for groceries and take-out food. In 1999, they sold the business briefly to Brett MacDonald after opening another store, the Casco AG (Associate Grocery), in Casco Village, but acquired the K&W again a year later.

Wayne and Kelly are currently recruiting help from their Casco store to staff the K&W and hope to give the store a thorough cleaning before they reopen this Monday. Wayne and Kelly plan to keep the K&W in business until they can sell it to someone who is willing to continue the little legacy of the neighborhood country store.

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