diff --git a/filewatcher/filewatcher.go b/filewatcher/filewatcher.go
index 8d8dfccea..9bb11b08c 100644
--- a/filewatcher/filewatcher.go
+++ b/filewatcher/filewatcher.go
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ func New(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) (*Result, error) {
 
 		var err error
 		data, mtime, files, err = openAndParse(cfg.Path, cfg.Parser, limit, hardLimit)
-		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+		if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
 			time.Sleep(InitialReadInterval)
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/filewatcher/filewatcher_test.go b/filewatcher/filewatcher_test.go
index c0805d1d1..d85f9247f 100644
--- a/filewatcher/filewatcher_test.go
+++ b/filewatcher/filewatcher_test.go
@@ -304,14 +304,14 @@ func updateDirWithContents(tb testing.TB, dst string, contents map[string]string
 	for p, content := range contents {
 		path := filepath.Join(dir, p)
 		parent := filepath.Dir(path)
-		if err := os.Mkdir(parent, 0777); err != nil && !os.IsExist(err) {
+		if err := os.Mkdir(parent, 0777); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrExist) {
 			tb.Fatalf("Failed to create directory %q for %q: %v", parent, path, err)
 		}
 		if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(content), 0666); err != nil {
 			tb.Fatalf("Failed to write file %q: %v", path, err)
 		}
 	}
-	if err := os.RemoveAll(dst); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+	if err := os.RemoveAll(dst); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
 		tb.Fatalf("Failed to remove %q: %v", dst, err)
 	}
 	if err := os.Rename(dir, dst); err != nil {
diff --git a/secrets/store.go b/secrets/store.go
index 6eaa5bf83..6f637c97e 100644
--- a/secrets/store.go
+++ b/secrets/store.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package secrets
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
@@ -45,12 +46,12 @@ func NewStore(ctx context.Context, path string, logger log.Wrapper, middlewares
 	}
 	store.secretHandler(middlewares...)
 	fileInfo, err := os.Stat(path)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	parser := store.parser
-	if fileInfo.IsDir() {
+	if fileInfo != nil && fileInfo.IsDir() {
 		parser = filewatcher.WrapDirParser(store.dirParser)
 	}
 
diff --git a/secrets/store_test.go b/secrets/store_test.go
index ce2d54229..da69fba51 100644
--- a/secrets/store_test.go
+++ b/secrets/store_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package secrets_test
 import (
 	"context"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -490,3 +491,27 @@ func TestAddMiddleware(t *testing.T) {
 		)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestNewStoreWaitBeforeAvailable(t *testing.T) {
+	const (
+		writeDelay = time.Second / 5
+		timeout    = time.Second * 5
+	)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), timeout)
+	t.Cleanup(cancel)
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "secrets.json")
+	go func() {
+		// delay create and write secrets.json file
+		// note that we must also delay creating the file here.
+		time.Sleep(writeDelay)
+		if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(specificationExample), 0666); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Failed to write %q: %v", path, err)
+		}
+	}()
+	store, err := secrets.NewStore(ctx, path, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewStore failed with %v", err)
+	}
+	store.Close()
+}