In case you didn’t notice, since barely anyone ventures to general stores these days, the oldest operating one in America closed just yesterday.

Gray’s Store, located in Adamsville, Rhode Island, has had an exceptional business span, running for a crazy 224 years. And yesterday, the family-operated business shut its doors for the final time after having been owned by seven generations of the same kin.

Jonah Waite, who inherited Gray’s from his father, Grayton, told ABC, “This was a local business. This was a place that you would come to get your groceries, and there wasn’t really any competition.” But of course, like every other mom-and-pop business these days, times began to grow difficult and closure was the only option.

However, since the announcement surfaced, Gray’s has been having about 100 people a day stopping by either to purchase goods or check out a quaint piece of Americana (but hopefully to give up some money).

Jonah says his father, who passed away just last month 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.”

Adding a touch of poetry onto the story — Gray’s Store’s last day was Grayton Waite’s birthday.

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