That heart lies undoubtedly with the corner store, which sits proudly on the main street and draws the eye with its simple charm.

Since taking it over in 2009, Pauline and Andrew Towning have restored the original Coles supermarket to its former glory and added a few surprising extras.

Those extras are what have earned the store a place in the Top 10 People's Choice Award in the 2011 Tourism Tasmania Awards.

The awards are conducted over the whole calendar year and the people's choice award is awarded based on the quality and quantity of surveys that passing customers fill out.

"They have to go out of their way to fill the survey out, '' Mrs Towning said.

"So we figure, if they're going out of their way, we must be doing alright.''

Mr Towning said the award meant a lot because it put them in the cream of the crop for the entire state.

"They (Tourism Tasmania) have about 1000 registered operators for these awards, so to make it to the top 10 is pretty amazing.''

It may have started out as a small country store but the Townings have created an information hub, with everything the locals and tourists need as they congregate in the area.

"We can recommend tourist spots and accommodation places for tourists, '' Mrs Towning said.

In a personal touch, each destination recommended by the Townings has been field-tested by the couple themselves.

"I don't like recommending places that I haven't been before, '' Mrs Towning said.

Among the supermarket shelves are rows and rows of old Coles memorabilia and bottles a mark of its heritage.

"We had to fix the building up a lot, '' Mrs Towning said.

"But we didn't want to lose its character.

"If we'd wanted to buy an IGA we would have.''

In addition to that, the shop now houses a tea room, tourist brochures, a dedicated memorabilia room, post office, DVD hire and bottle shop.