JONESVILLE, Vt. (AP) – A store that has long been a stop for Long Trail hikers, meat buyers and commuters has closed while the owner does military service in the Middle East.

Stanley Buziak, 45, who owns the Jonesville Country Store with his mother, is among 130 Vermont National Guard soldiers preparing for a Nov. 20 deployment, probably to Iraq and Kuwait.

The store is too much for Irene Buziak to handle herself, so the store will be shuttered until Stanley returns in 18 months to two years.

On the store’s last day Saturday, Stanley had turned his attention to his new job and was in Enosburg with other soldiers preparing for deployment.

Over the past week the Budziaks’ days have been filled with the chores of closing the store. Stanley shut down meat coolers one at a time and customers picked remaining items off the barren shelves.

The warmth and generosity shown by customers since the Budziaks announced they were closing did much to override the store’s gloomy atmosphere, mother and son said.

“One came from South Burlington, one guy came from Manchester, N.H. He heard about it on the radio and he drove all the way over here,” Stanley said.

Irene, wearing an eye patch Tuesday after hurried cataract surgery ahead of her son’s deployment, said some customers bought things they didn’t need just to show support.

“It makes you feel good,” Stanley said.

Customer Marci Godin of Jonesville came in for one of her last cups of coffee. “I’ve been coming here a long time,” she said.

“It makes me sad,” Godin said as she looked around at half-empty shelves.

Monument Farms dairy salesman Brian Atherton stopped by to thank the Budziaks for their business. “My son was in the last one,” Atherton said, referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. “I know what you’re going through.”

By Thursday, Stanley gathered a few treats he hoped to take with him. Some beef jerky teriyaki he made. Sealed packages of coffee.

This is the height of deer season and he normally would be butchering and packaging meat from dozens of deer and other animal brought in by his customers.

“A lot of people have come in and said, Where do I bring them?’ I said I don’t know.’ There’s very few people who do custom cutting.”

Friday morning, Stanley was cutting the last side of beef.

His mother went to the overpass at Interstate 89 in Richmond, where she and perhaps 40 others waved their support to 11 busloads of troops headed to the airport for their deployment.

The store closed without fanfare Saturday. Just before 3 p.m., a man came in and bought a 12-ounce bottle of Otter Creek beer. Irene, accompanied by her daughter Jayne Gratton, put the sign in the window and switched off the lights.

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Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com

AP-ES-11-21-04 1439EST