Moulton's General Store for Sale
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — After seven years operating the city's only general store, Mark and Cathy Moulton are ready for something new.
Moulton's General Store in the former J.J. Newberry space at 77 Main St. has been listed with Century 21 Harold Dupee Realtors for $74,900.
"We're exploring other options," said Mark Moulton by phone on Tuesday afternoon. "We're putting it out there to see if there's any interest."
Moulton said the listing is turn key; all the inventory, equipment and furnishings are included. The building is owned by Scarafoni Realty.
The store offers a variety of gift shop and New England-style merchandise, along with homemade fudge, coffees and soup, sodas and other beverages, newspapers, and general merchandise and travelers' needs. It had been accepting electric and phone bill payments, but stopped on June 1.
Newberry's, once a national chain of small department stores and lunch counters, had been shuttered for more than a decade when Moulton's moved into the vacant space in 2002. The Moultons have recognized their predecessor by spelling out its name in large letters on an interior wall.
Moulton's wife and sister-in-law, Laurie Moulton, have been running the business since it opened.
"We know everybody in the downtown," said Laurie Moulton on Tuesday. "We have our regulars who come in at different times of the day."
While she'll miss her regulars, she, too, is ready for a change. She said she and her sister-in-law are both planning on spending more time with their children and families.
Mark Moulton said business has been good but the couple are looking at other opportunities. He said they "haven't thought that far ahead" of the possibility of closing if no buyer appeared.
"It's a great business and a great price," he said. "We think someone will want to keep it going."
Update: Joe Manning informs us that the letters spelling out J.J. Newberry's are the original ones that used to be above the storefront. Manning owns the letters and he and Moulton agreed that they looked good inside.
