KNOX — Once a common landmark and meeting place in town, the Knox general store on Route 156 has been shuttered for years. However, in a town now nearly devoid of businesses, a new restaurant opened this month.

The eatery, called Knox Market, is owned by Ardi Cecunjanin, 36, who also owns Fox Creek Market in Berne, a business that is part general store, sandwich shop, bakery, and pizza place. Cecunjanin reopened the store in Berne two years ago. He said that the Knox restaurant has been open for about two weeks now.

After unintentionally finding the building when looking for a spot for Fox Creek Market in Berne, Cecunjanin said that he and his family have remained interested in the area.

With Knox Market less than five miles up the road, it could easily serve as a satellite for the Berne store. But rather than imitate Fox Creek Market, Cecunjanin said he hopes to provide some variety to the fare offered there and at other local restaurants.

“We really didn’t want the same types of food,” he said.

The menu currently includes Mexican-style food like wraps and quesadillas, but also salads, soup, and burgers. Cecunjanin described it as “comfort food.”

The restaurant also sells other products, such as baked goods from Fox Creek Market and Boar’s Head deli meat. It is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“Everybody’s taking to it quite well,” he said. “We just didn’t want to be another pizza place.”

He said he is hoping to organize a grand opening when the weather is warmer and an event can be organized with local politicians.

From general store to restaurant

The former general store in Knox has changed hands several times over the years. Known as the Knox Country Store, it was owned by former town councilwoman Amy Pokorny and her husband, the town assessor, Russell Pokorny, from 1997 to 2002. It was later owned by former councilman Joseph Best. The neighboring building became so dilapidated that the post office housed there had to be shut down.

After being closed for years, the store was bought by current town Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis, who renovated the building in 2016 in the hope of finding tenants.

In May of last year, Lefkaditis sold the store to Cecunjanin. After remarking on the new owners in a July town board meeting, the supervisor told The Enterprise that he had sold the store for $180,000. County records show a transfer in May of that amount.

At an October town board meeting, during which Cecunjanin’s application for a special-use permit was discussed, Lefkaditis said that the United States Postal Service is willing to set up an “authorized acceptor” in the Knox Country Store, so that mailboxes and other amenities could be offered in Knox, a town with no post office currently.

“We’re working with him right now on it,” said Cecunjanin, of the plans with the supervisor to open an “authorized acceptor.” He said that there are plans to do so, but they have not had a chance to discuss it further recently.

Cecunjanin said that the process of opening the restaurant had had some “speed bumps” with regulatory agencies due to the building being shuttered for so long, but that on the town level the procedure went smoothly.

“I have the town to thank for that,” he said, adding that he was given advice while going through the process.

Since Lefkaditis had renovated the exterior of the former general store, Cecunjanin said he and his family finished by renovating the interior.

Cecunjanin now owns the entirety of the building, but only one section of the building is used for the restaurant. The other areas he hopes to eventually open as a wine shop, a bakery, and a barber shop or hair salon.

He said that he has been approached by some about the empty spaces next door, but is not expecting to fill these soon.

“I don’t just need a tenant,” he said. “I need someone that’s going to benefit the rest of town.”

Family business

Cecujanin’s family has been working in the restaurant industry for 38 years, working in Connecticut, and then New York City, next Canajoharie, and then in Florida for 11 years. Locally, family members own Zia’s Pizza in Nassau, Peppino’s Kitchen in Castleton-on-Hudson, Mercato’s III Ristorante in Latham, and Dino’s Italian Eatery in Troy.

To cover the new store was just a matter of moving employees around, namely family members, he said. There are three people running the Knox Market — himself, his brother, and his sister-in-law — though he is still looking for more help.

“I think it’s been sufficient,” he said. His father, Mike Cecunjanin, and his brother and sister have remained to work at Fox Creek Market.

The process of opening a business may be difficult, but Cecunjanin said that, as seasoned restaurant owners, he and his family are not discouraged. The next challenge will be figure out what the customers want of the new business.

“It’s been a good start,” he said. His goal is to keep a “level tempo” as the store opens, and figuring out what sells and what doesn’t before it becomes too busy, another reason he has put off having a grand opening.

“We really need to see what the town wants to with it … I’d love to fill it up with grocery aisles but we’ll need to see what the town demands,” he said.

Cecunjanin said he is currently trying to stock everyday items, but he said the store “won’t be a Hannaford.” It is especially difficult to gauge what items should be stocked, because the vendors who deliver them may be discouraged from returning if the items are not sold. Cecunjanin said that the vendors reimburse the store for products not sold, and the items are usually not resellable because they’ve expired.

He said the reaction from customers has so far been positive, with many appreciating a new business in town and the fact that the former general store in Knox has been reopened.

Some of those customers he knew from Fox Creek Market have visited the new restaurant; others are completely new.

“We get a mixed bag of both,” he said.

Cecunjanin said he prefers having a restaurant in a small town rather than downtown in a city like Albany, with the benefit being he can get to know the customers so well they become like “family.”

“Customers here, they’re not really customers anymore,” he said. “We know their names, their faces … .”