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Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., is billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Historic RI general store reopens on limited basis

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., has reopened. Before it closed last summer it was billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., has reopened. Before it closed last summer it was billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. (AP) – A historic general store in Rhode Island that closed last year has reopened on a limited basis for sales of antiques and consignments.

The Newport Daily News reports that Gray’s General Store in the Adamsville village in Little Compton reopened last week.

The store originally opened in 1788 and had been in continuous operation until it closed in July of last year, following the death of owner Grayton Waite. State officials had proclaimed the store the oldest in the country.

Waite’s family has reopened the store on a seasonal basis. The shelves are stocked with pottery, glassware, vintage clothing and jewelry, but none of the penny candy, cracked corn or soda that were staples of the general store.

The family is still considering what to do with the property.

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Information from: The Newport Daily News.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-07-08-13 1416GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., has reopened. Before it closed last summer it was billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., has reopened. Before it closed last summer it was billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.