The Montecito Country Mart’s U.S. Postal Service contract postal unit will stay open after the mart’s owner and USPS agreed to a new contract, both parties confirmed.

Contract postal units are run by individual businesses under contract with USPS, typically in supermarkets or on college campuses.

Notice of 120 days is required if either party wants to shut down the unit.

The postal units are often open for longer hours than traditional Post Offices. The one in the mart’s Trading Post at 1026A Coast Village Road, for example, is open on the weekends, unlike the nearby Montecito Post Office on East Valley Road.

USPS had notified the mart — a retail center with restaurants and other shops — earlier this year that it planned to close the postal unit in the summer. It had been located in the area since 1987.

The mart fought this decision with both online and paper petitions.

It also formally appealed, mart owner James Rosenfield told Noozhawk.

The mart received a massive amount of community support to keep the postal unit open, according to Rosenfield.

He credited the public’s support as a reason both parties were able to agree to a new contract.

The new agreement will kick in this summer after the current one lapses, a USPS spokesperson confirmed.

Rosenfield and mart spokespeople also thanked the local officials for their support, including Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-24), the Santa Barbara postmaster, and the U.S. postmaster.

“I want to thank the community, because without their support, I don’t think this would have happened,” Rosenfield said. “It’s everybody — it’s the people who patronize (the unit), it’s the people who signed the petition… it’s the people who got the word out quickly. Everybody played a role.”

He said the postal unit will “operate as long as they’ll allow us…There’s a lot of love and a lot of support for our little post office,” he said.