Aspinwall Mayor Ben Killian is not giving up on the effort to get a post office in his town once again.

After a plan to reopen a postal substation inside a store fell through, Mr. Killian said he now would try to get a permanent post office for Aspinwall.

"I'm not quitting," he said. "I'm absolutely going to petition for a permanent post office. We've proven ... how many people need the service."

The borough has been without a post office since 2006, when John Zourelias, owner of J&W Variety Store, closed the postal substation he had operated for 37 years inside his store on Brilliant Avenue. He said the cost of operating it had become too high.

Residents missed having a post office in town, and Mr. Killian started a campaign last year to get one, obtaining 1,600 signatures on a petition in support of the idea. He gathered support from state officials and from those in neighboring municipalities. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., hosted a meeting on the matter in December with U.S. Postal Service officials and state and borough representatives.

Fox Chapel and O'Hara joined the effort, with O'Hara Manager Julie Jakubec citing an influx of new developments in the area as one reason a post office was needed in Aspinwall.

As a result, the Postal Service sent letters to businesses in Aspinwall about placing a postal substation in their place of business.

Three responses were received, Mr. Killian said, but only Mr. Zourelias attended a meeting March 7 with Pittsburgh Post Office representatives.

They presented him with a 28-page policy that would require the store owner to provide equipment, construct a post office area to Postal Service specifications and open the facility until 7 p.m. weekdays and until 3 p.m. Saturday.

Tad Kelley, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service Pittsburgh District, said the information given to Mr. Zourelias was an overview of the post office policy for anyone seeking a contract postal unit. He said post office suppliers would provide equipment after the facility had reached a threshold of $100,000 a year in revenue.

Mr. Zourelias said he was disappointed the Postal Service hadn't taken into account the number of years he had operated a postal substation in his store.

He was given 30 days to respond, but he said he would not accept those terms. "There's no way I could break even," Mr. Zourelias said. "I'm done with it but will support Ben in trying for a main post office."