Sometimes, just a single snapshot in life can provide a bigger picture.

Nancy Cedar remembers such an experience in the summer of 2013 while cleaning at the Greenbank Store & Grille when two customers caught her attention.

“There were two gals, probably in their mid-30s to early-40s, and they had big smiles on their faces,” Cedar said. “One of them was kind of wandering around and she stopped at a place on the floor.”

Cedar re-enacted how the woman pressed her feet on a section of hardwood, causing the floor to squeak, and will never forget what she heard her say.

“She turned to her girlfriend and said, ‘It squeaks in just the same place it squeaked when I was a little girl.’ Together, they were in such joy at that moment.”

It is experiences like those that only reinforced to Nancy and Brian Cedar that their decision to come to Whidbey Island and rescue an island institution was the right move.

Even though at the time they didn’t fully understand what re-opening the general store and restaurant inside a historic, iconic building would truly mean to residents of Greenbank and other island communities.

When the Cedars bought the business in December of 2011 and planned for a grand re-opening two months later, their intentions were to scrap the store and expand the restaurant to include downstairs dining.

That plan lasted about a week.

“We bought a restaurant,” Nancy Cedar said. “What happened is during the renovation, we left the door open so people could come in to talk to us.”

And talk they did, with one recurring, powerful sentiment: asking if they could kindly keep the store open, too.

After all, the Greenbank Store, built in 1904, had been around for more than a century, moving from the waterfront to its present-day location off State Highway 525 in the 1930s.

Brian Cedar jokes as if there were no choice in the matter when initially presenting his restaurant-only concept to locals.

“We were quickly told by people who live there, ‘That’s not what you’re going to do at all,’ that we were going to have a store here,” he said.

The Cedars are happy they listened.

Their commitment to the store, restaurant and community has been rewarded with strong business in their third year of operation.

They admit they struggled mightily their first year, gained traction the second and “made a living” in a bustling third year.

They bought a home on Whidbey in 2014.

“We have a viable business after three years,” Nancy Cedar said. “But we work ferociously hard. This is our life now. We are really committed to this.”

“The people here have been just incredible in terms of their support of this place,” Brian Cedar said. “Many of the people who are here grew up with this place being their store. That’s what we’ve tried to create, not only in the restaurant, but in the store itself, a feeling that this is your store.”

The building carries a rustic charm, featuring a general store and deli downstairs and restaurant and bar upstairs.

Historic Greenbank photos cover the walls, as well as images of family and citizens dear to the Cedars and the community.

Brian Cedar is the head chef in the restaurant that provides a lunch and dinner menu that consists of “comfort food in a comfortable environment” with popular items such as fish and chips, half-pound hamburgers and “Cookie’s Special Reuben Sandwich” to go along with dinner dishes that feature pasta, seafood and traditional meats.

Cedar once owned a small restaurant in Hawaii and worked in several restaurants in his younger years but hadn’t worked in the industry for three decades until now.

He and his wife were semi-retired and living in Sammamish when they started looking for a restaurant venture and were on their way to visit a prospective site in Coupeville when a vacant and near-empty Greenbank Store caught their attention from the highway.

“I looked over and thought, ‘How sad that that old store has been shut down, because it is such a soulful place,’ ” Brian Cedar said.

The Cedars bought the store and upstairs restaurant called the 1904 Public House from Kate Buzard and Amy Wheeler; however, they still lease the building from longtime store owners Tom and Mary Coupe.

When the Cedars held a grand re-opening on Feb. 29, 2012, the Coupes were their featured guests.

“We thought leap year was a wonderful day to open because it was such a leap for us,” Nancy Cedar said.

However, the landing has made it worth it. During the busiest time of the year in the summer, the store and restaurant employ as many as 20 people.

The Cedars have settled into life on Whidbey and now can’t imagine being anywhere else. They have two daughters who work in the business; Robin Cedar, the assistant store manager, and Julietta Cedar, who assists in various tasks and is the family artist.

Julietta, 24, who is autistic, has been warmly embraced by customers.

“Our community is absolutely charmed by her,” Nancy Cedar said.

As the Cedars are with their new community.

“There are so many people who come up and say, ‘We are so grateful you are here,’ ” Brian Cedar said. “It chokes me up a little bit.”