diff --git a/esp/services/ws_store/espstorelib/daliKVStore.cpp b/esp/services/ws_store/espstorelib/daliKVStore.cpp
index d3647f5cdb2..0db602bab54 100644
--- a/esp/services/ws_store/espstorelib/daliKVStore.cpp
+++ b/esp/services/ws_store/espstorelib/daliKVStore.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ bool CDALIKVStore::createStore(const char * apptype, const char * storename, con
         }
     }
 
+    //target store does not exist, let's create it
+    //re-establish connection with write lock
+    conn.clear();
+    conn.setown(querySDS().connect(DALI_KVSTORE_PATH, myProcessSession(), RTM_LOCK_WRITE, SDS_LOCK_TIMEOUT_KVSTORE));
+
     Owned<IPropertyTree> apptree = createPTree();
     apptree->setProp(DALI_KVSTORE_NAME_ATT, storename);
     CDateTime dt;
@@ -58,8 +63,6 @@ bool CDALIKVStore::createStore(const char * apptype, const char * storename, con
     if (maxvalsize != 0)
         apptree->setPropInt(DALI_KVSTORE_MAXVALSIZE_ATT, maxvalsize);
 
-    conn->changeMode(RTM_LOCK_WRITE, SDS_LOCK_TIMEOUT_KVSTORE);
-
     Owned<IPropertyTree> root = conn->getRoot();
     if (root->hasProp(xpath.str()))
     {