LITTLE COMPTON – Gray’s Store in Adamsville village, which opened in 1788, closed its doors Sunday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.
The 224-year-old business, which claimed to be the oldest operating general store in America, included a marble soda fountain and cigar and tobacco cases and sold johnny cakes, groceries and penny candy.
Owner Jonah Waite, 21, who inherited the shop after his father died of cancer last month, told the news source that it was a hard decision to close the shop, but that finances were not sustainable and a supermarket down the street had siphoned away much of the business.
Waite, who will enter his senior year at the University of Hartford, is pursuing a career in sports journalism.
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