PERU – As soon as Clint Delano walked into Mrs. B’s Village Store on Wednesday afternoon, the elderly Peru resident was greeted by owner Carol Bernard and a near-chorus of welcoming voices from the hired help: Bernard’s husband, Jay, and their two teenaged daughters.

After examining the store’s homemade Annie’s Doughnuts, Delano said what many others have said after walking into the Bernard family’s first foray into the mom-and-pop grocery and eatery business.

“People are tickled to death to have it back. I’ve been waiting for years,” he said of the Dixfield couple’s reopening of a community landmark: Lois Binette’s former village store in the red-and-white two-story building sandwiched between Main Street and Spear Stream’s Mill Pond. The building is about 200 years old, Jay Bernard said.

Using their savings, Carol, 50, and Jay Bernard, 47, bought the building and renovated it. Then, they bought out nearby Fly Rod Jackie’s fishing supplies business in Mexico, and opened for business on Martin Luther King weekend at 120 Main St. in Peru.

The store is named after Binette, and Carol Bernard and her Bussiere parents, who passed away.

When the couple decided to open, Jay Bernard gave up his code enforcement job of five years in Dixfield and volunteer firefighting, but retained his job as a state forest ranger. His wife, a former long-time SAD 21 school bus driver, is an education technician for the district, and their two daughters, Kristen, 17, and Carrie, 15, attend Dirigo High School in Dixfield.

Jay Bernard handles logistics, handyman work and short-order cooking, while his wife does planning and operations, and, along with her children, cooking and baking.

In addition to selling high-end flky-fishing gear and flies, they have a large assortment of wines, imported beer, and traditional grocery items.

“Most of our things are your everyday I-don’t-want-to-run-to-Wal-mart-for things,” Carol Bernard said Wednesday.

They also offer home-cooked foods, pizza, soups, pastries, penny candy, Green Mountain coffee, and plenty of socializing and laughter, much of which stems from Jay Bernard’s antics behind the counter, including a Samurai Pizzaman-like routine modeled on a John Belushi “Saturday Night Live” skit.

“We’re trying to make the best of it and have a good, convenient happy place in which to work. You come in here and you laugh, and people leave laughing. I love people. I’m a little social butterfly, so, this is a niche for me,” Carol Bernard said.

They’re not breaking even yet, but, Jay Bernard said they are still trying to grow their inventory, dream up and fill niches not offered by big-box stores.

“Carol’s business plan was to create a soup-and-sandwich shop, and maintain an atmosphere of an old country store with conveniences,” Jay Bernard said.

One such convenience is what’s called the Riparian Room, a former storage room that he converted into an educational dining room overlooking the pond. He also built a bird’s-eye maple picnic table for the room with plans to add a few more.

Now, the business is what they call home, and they’ve stocked it with a rocking chair, a fireplace and large rugs.

“The days of our leisure activities have come to an end. We now live in a new world called ‘store ownership,’ ” Jay Bernard said.

They’ve also hired a few people and will be adding more.

The store is open from 4:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, call 562-7800.