First National Real Estate Naracoorte's Brian Edwards puts the sold sign up on the Apsley Cafe in a welcome piece of news for locals in the small town.
THERE is relief and optimism in Apsley with the "sold" sign put on the vacant cafe's front door.
The cafe and adjoining three bedroom house went to auction in late July but, after the property was passed in and then there was a paperwork error, the sale became official with the erecting of the signage last Friday.
Naracoorte First National Real Estate director Brian Edwards said he was "very confident" that the cafe - which has been closed for over a year - would be revived and may provide something of a spark for the Apsley community.
"It will be fantastic for the town," he said.
The cafe's new owners hail from Edenhope and are no strangers to running a business.
"They have had experience in small business," Mr Edwards said.
He said the couple planned to renovate the cafe and have it up and running in 2013.
"They intend to do it all up to their expectations to be opened in the new year."
Mr Edwards said the previous cafe owner "just walked out" of the business, which left the people of Apsley without a store to buy simple items such as bread and milk.
Around 20 years ago Apsley was thriving with a pub, a stock agent, two banks, two shops, a post office, a football club playing all home games in town and a school.
The town has been on a gradual decline with now only the post office and school left running and Apsley Football Club merging with Edenhope, with home games shared.
The hotel closed last year and its future remains uncertain.
Jenney Taylor, who runs the Apsley Post office with her husband Pat, said the prospect of the cafe re-opening would be good for the locals, particularly older Apsley residents.
"It'd be good for the oldies to have somewhere local to buy a loaf of bread," she said.
"It's a terrific thing for the town."
She said the majority of the town would be happy to support the business if it was re-opened.
The cafe sits on the Wimmera Hwy and, due to Apsley's wider street compared to that of Edenhope, makes an ideal truckstop according to Mr Edwards.
Mrs Taylor said on sale days the amount of trucks coming through the town to and from the Naracoorte Regional Livestock Exchange was "phenomenal".
"On sale days it (the traffic) would be continuous," she said.
She said because of Edenhope's narrow road, the next best food stop for truck drivers from the saleyards would be Horsham, a further 115km from Apsley.