Kentucky has been a one-shop town for 90 years, with the General Store & Cafe providing groceries, fuel and postal services to the farming community's 150 residents.
The village also boasts a school and distillery, but the shop has been a meeting point for a population which has grown from a soldier settlement to a hidden gem of New South Wales' New England region.
But with the shop's owners, Rodney and Deborah McGrath, planning to retire, the race is on to save the store before it closes on May 31.
After being on the market for five years and failing to attract a buyer, the community is trying to raise $500,000 to save the historic store.
As well as running fundraisers, residents are planning to create a community co-op that will allow investors to buy shares in the shop with the intention of buying the business.
Kentucky Progress Association president Kel Hughes said the closure of the shop would have a major impact on the tiny town.
"It would just be a real blow for Kentucky. It would just kill off the village," he said.
"If you took a 20-mile radius around Kentucky, there are a lot of families living on farms that rely on the shop."
The shop has been running on minimal stock in anticipation of the closure.
Mr Hughes said some of the money raised would be used to resupply the shelves and revitalise the store's cafe and bottle shop.
"We want it to be a community hub, with things like a beer garden and various other things," he said.
"We might do a sunset lounge out the back, try and get in some local music, and just really ramp it up. [The money] is fairly substantial. We'll work on it, but I think it is possible.
"The shop has been running for 90 years. It would great if we could get it to 100."
Growing with the community
Having bought the shop 16 years ago, co-owner Rodney McGrath said he moved to Kentucky to give his sons a break from city life.
He said interacting with the community had been an enjoyable experience.
"The number of kids we've seen go into the kindergarten and are now off married and working, it does shock you when they walk back into the shop," Mr McGrath said.
"We're running on empty and a bit tired, whereas the new crew can bring that energy, enthusiasm, and new ideas to reinvigorate the store to get it back to what it was because it is certainly a facility that the locals cherish and need."
Mr Hughes said when he moved to Kentucky 20 years ago, he would sit at the cafe on a Sunday morning with a coffee and newspaper.
"There would be various people turning up. It is definitely a social hub," he said.
"Without the shop, there's going to be nothing there for people to gather around."
Necessity not practicality
There is hope for the Kentucky store, after a group of women formed a successful community co-op in Cumnock.
Business NSW regional director Diane Gray said investors would need to communicate and collaborate for the benefit of the wider community.
"When a community comes together like this, it's more out of necessity than practicality," she said.
"They do go through periods of 'do we still continue, do we shut down?'
"It might be that they rely on some volunteers to help keep it open, and, as we know, volunteers are really hard to come by."
Ms Gray also said the Kentucky store's closure could mark the end of the village.
"These types of rural communities really rely on that ability to be able to buy your bread, your milk, and your fuel," she said.
"Fuel is one of the greatest commodities that is required.
"When a staple in the community like the corner store is lost, the village becomes lost.
"It is important that these types of stores stay open to hold the community together."
Mr Hughes said they were hoping to appeal to investors who had a connection to Kentucky over the years by advertising in other places such as Sydney and Canberra.
"A lot of people have had connections with Kentucky over the years with the fruit picking," he said.
"If people invest it's not to make money, they are investing in Kentucky, keeping it vibrant as a community."