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David Ross Highland Correspondent
The nearest alternative is in Bowmore, on Islay, which involves a 10-mile drive from Jura's main settlement Craighouse to the ferry terminal.
The crossing of the Sound of Islay is then followed by another 10-mile drive.
The owners have run it since 1990, but it has become increasingly difficult to keep going and have been trying to sell the business. Despite advertising it for sale, there has been no interest and will close if no-one comes forward.
Now they have approached the community-led Jura Development Trust, who have applied successfully to Scottish ministers to exercise a Community Right to Buy under land reform legislation.
A price will be set by an independent valuer, and islanders balloted.
Peter Wotherspoon, secretary of the Jura Development Trust, said: "It is absolutely vital we secure the shop. Imagine what it would like to lose our only shop. The next one is at Bowmore on Islay, a drive and a ferry journey away.
"I have done it by public transport and it takes five hours there and back. That's from Craighouse, but more than half Jura's population live further north."
He said they were working closely with the shop's owners, Steve and Beth Martin, but the community had made clear they were desperate to keep the shop open. So they were already talking to Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the National Lottery and other funding bodies.
Meanwhile, having been without a full-time, resident GP for almost two years, Jura residents are celebrating having two – a man and a woman.. Since the last GP left in February last year, the position has been staffed by a series of locums.
However, following a publicity campaign launched in July by Jura Community Council and the Community Health Partnership, Dr Martin Beastall will take up the position in February. It is the second time in seven years the community has secured a GP in this way. Dr Beastall, 36, who is originally from Manchester, trained as a surgeon before becoming a general practitioner.
He told the Jura Jottings, the community's online newsletter: "My 'unique selling point' at interview was that I wasn't offering just myself to work at the Practice, but also my wife Abby."
She is a GP in Yorkshire, and they will run the practice, including providing on call cover, between them when she joins in May. They had been living in Doncaster, but were disillusioned about the state of primary care in England, and thought general practice there was a bit of a mess.
Dr Beastall said: "The GP commissioning scheme, started a couple of years ago, seems to have completely lost its way and become purely about saving money [and allowing the Government to blame GPs for service cuts in the process] rather than improving patient care. The ever increasing pressure on GPs in an urban environment is unsustainable. I think the Scottish Government have their priorities right."
He said he and Abby had found out about the job by chance while watching videos on the BBC News website and rang the health board that day.
He has two children – daughter Charlotte, 18, from a previous relationship who is preparing to study nursing at university, and Zoe, who is under two months.
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