MONROE — The building at the center of town is immediately recognizable in the architectural lexicon of little towns. That residents considered using for something other than a general store speaks to the nearly six years it stood vacant.

The business reopened in mid-February under new ownership, taking back the traditional “Monroe General Store” name and adding a revamped menu of prepared foods under the banner of the Wicked Rooster Café — named for a real rooster that General Manager Joan Hayward said lives up to the moniker. 

“He’s mean,” she said. “It’s not like the Maine ‘wicked.’”  

Judging from the upbeat mood and steady foot traffic on a recent weekday, the café is a hit, and a logical extension of a business that many residents are glad to have back.

“It felt like the heart of the town had been torn out when it closed,” said Philip Dalto, a carpenter and resident of Monroe.

Dalto happened to be working at a construction job around the corner, and so has already become something of a regular at the café. Fellow workers Lao Tan of Monroe and Tom Martinelli of Northport joined him in a corner booth by the large windows facing out onto Main Street.

Tan, who has lived in town for eight years, said he hosted potluck dinners during the period when the store was closed and was involved with other community activities like the local farmers market. The old general store building had been eyed as a possible site for an alternative school, among other things. But Tan said a survey circulated in town showed a strong interest in something a lot like the new Monroe General Store.

Out of 100 responses, he said, all of them called for a place where you could get a cup of coffee and chat with neighbors.

Hayward had something similar in mind when she heard last year that a pending sale of the building had fallen through. She was living in Belfast at the time and convinced her sister and brother-in-law, Valerie Tognacci-Lindholm and Rob Lindholm, to buy the building and restart the general store.

The Lindholms were living in Gray, so Hayward oversaw the renovations and everything else necessary to get the business up and running. She had been looking at places like the Hope General Store and others that had become hubs for their respective communities.

The booth and tables weren’t part of the last iteration of the general store. Neither were the antique pendant lamps, which give the old wood-paneled interior of the store a cozy, established feeling. 

When Dalto, Tan and Martinelli left, the corner booth was immediately taken up by another group including a former owner of the store, who noted that none of the earlier versions, including his own, had a café. 

“This is much better,” he said.

Mary Gallison of the Monroe Community Library seconded that notion. If the café weren’t here, she said, she probably would have gone home for lunch. “We’d gotten used to not having a store, so having a regular store probably wouldn’t have worked,” she said.

Hayward said the basic idea of the cafe was “relatively simple, well-prepared food.” Beyond that, she said, the menu has been evolving quickly through a combination of her sister’s culinary skills and customer requests and a game kitchen staff.

“People ask for stuff. If we have the ingredients, we can put it together and make it,” she said.

Pizza has been especially popular. Hayward said she wants the Wicked Rooster’s to be the best in Waldo County.

“It’s an inauspicious goal,” she said, “but it’s a goal.”

Before moving to Maine, Hayward ran a specialty beer and wine shop in New Hampshire. The Monroe General Store already carries 125 brands of beer — Hayward said she’s just getting started — and a variety of wines, including some local labels. For those who want to delve into the beer selection with minimal risk, the store offers a mix-and-match six-pack. 

Nearby coolers and shelves are stocked with a long list of locally-produced foods: beef and pork from Jackson, lamb from Brooks, eggs and ice cream from Monroe, dog food from a poultry company in Warren, and jerky from a smoke shop across the street.

The store carries fresh vegetables, too. Hayward said she’s been buying what farmers have on hand — mostly root vegetables this time of year — and hopes to work with the local farmers’ market in the summer.

The store also sells jewelry, sweaters, pottery and other handcrafts by area artisans. A Facebook page advertises an almost-daily addition of new, local products. 

“It’s our goal to support the community, because it’s the community that’s going to support us,” Hayward said.

Many of the local goods are cheaper than they would be in Belfast or Waterville. This is due partly to transportation costs, but also to the fact that family farms and cottage businesses tend to deal in smaller volumes, so the Monroe General Store isn’t competing with bulk discount pricing elsewhere. 

Lindholm said maybe he could have charged a premium, but it would have been disingenuous and maybe even destructive. He talked about the store as part of a system of services, like being able to get your car fixed or having a place to go out to eat, that make up the fabric of the community.

“That’s what towns used to be,” he said.

The store came with a large parcel of land that extends to nearby Marsh Stream. Lindholm said he’s hoping to make use of it this summer, perhaps pairing the scenery with a menu of seasonal take-out food. 

“You’ve got 600 feet of river,” he said. “Ice cream, hot dogs ...” He opened his hands as if to say: What else do you need?

He tossed around other ideas: adding a small selection of agricultural supplies behind the store; inviting a Christmas tree vendor to set up outside the store in the late fall.

“We’re not perfect but you try to be the best part of the community you can be,” he said. “You take it one step at a time.”

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com