Country's oldest store out of business

ADAMSVILLE, R.I., July 29 (UPI) -- The oldest general store in the United States is closing its doors Sunday after being in business in Adamsville, R.I., for 224 years, its owner says.

Gray's general store, which has been run by a family in Adamsville for six generations, has not been able to keep up with the competition in recent years and closed its doors for good Sunday, WLNE-TV, Providence, R.I., reported.

Jonah Waite, 21, inherited the store last month after his father died and said since it was announced that the store was closing, about a hundred people visited each day, which is about 10 times more than usual.

Waite said his father would "be pretty ecstatic, because this would be the most business he got all year, but he would be proud of the way that I'm handling things."

In 2007, Gray's was named the country's oldest continuously run general store by Sen. Jack Reed and then-Gov. Donald Carcieri, The Providence (R.I.) Journal reported.

The store's closing is "the end of an era," Waite said.