ELY, Nev. (AP) - Months after this rural Nevada town's only general retail store closed its doors, a co-op supported by local residents has opened to large crowds.

The co-op found a model in Powell, Wyo., a town where the main retailer moved out because of a downturn in the town's economy. Powell townspeople raised $400,000 in three months selling co-op shares for $500.

"The demographics of Powell are very similar to Ely," said Phil Leibold, president of the Community Owned Mercantile Project in Ely.

Ely's Garnet Mercantile cooperative is owned by shareholders, about half of them local residents. It was born out of desperation after officials couldn't persuade another store to replace J.C. Penney, which closed in July.

Monday's opening means residents can avoid a 180-mile drive to Elko or 240-mile drive to Las Vegas to do their retail shopping.

The Ely co-op incorporated last December. About 880 shares were sold at $500 each - surpassing the goal of 800 shares to get up and running.

Leibold estimated half the Ely shares went to people in town and half to investors in the rest of the state.

Gov. Kenny Guinn donated two shares to White Pine High School's student council.

The Ely Renaissance Society repainted and remodeled the store's facade to an original 1920s look and designed a mural to portray a 1940s department store sign, Leibold said.

Under an agreement with the Wyoming co-op, the Powell Mercantile will purchase goods for both co-ops to save money for the two enterprises.

Penney's decision to leave Ely followed a slowdown in the town's dominant mining industry. Several other stores also closed in the downtown area in the past several years.