Ryan’s Market, on Brown Street, has long been one of Wickford’s anchor stores.

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The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Ryan’s Market, a family-owned business that has survived 10 recessions and the Great Depression, closed last Saturday, its future uncertain.

A throwback to an earlier time, the 122-year-old business featured hand-carved aged beef, naked fluorescent bulbs and bag boys who once walked customers to their cars.

“In small towns there are certain things that are a part of your life, and they’re very reassuring” because they never change, said Carole Byers, the town’s Canvassing Authority supervisor and a customer for 50 years. On Friday, Byers bought a beef and broccoli dinner at the Brown Street store. “It’s an institution. It’s very sad.”

The store will hold an inventory sale later this week. After that, “it’s up in the air” whether the store will reopen, be renovated or get sold, a store spokesman said yesterday.

The owner, E.J. Ryan, put the building up for sale about a year ago, and in recent months the store’s stock has dwindled. Last Friday some shelves were empty; a dairy case was papered over. Yesterday a sign on the door said, simply, “Sorry, We’re CLOSED.” Bundled newspapers sat on the front concrete steps.

The store closed with no fanfare, and some customers yesterday were surprised to find it dark and empty.

“It’s a terrible shame,” said Narragansett shopper Glenna Kalen, who stared at the locked door at 10:30 yesterday morning, an hour after Ryan’s usually opens. Kalen said she loved the store’s small lamb roasts –– “just big enough for two people” –– and scrapple, a Pennsylvania specialty that includes cornmeal mush made with pork, broth and onions.

The closing is the second this spring in the historic village, which hugs a sheltered harbor midway between the Narragansett town line and the former Quonset Navy base.

Last month owner Ugur Yilmaz closed Wickford Gourmet, a landmark store known for its gourmet spices, specialty cheeses and gift baskets.

Both stores served as anchors for the strip of boutique stores, offices and restaurants along Brown, Main and West Main streets.

Karla P. Driscoll, executive director of the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce, said the closings will be temporary.

“I don’t think it will have a long-term effect,” she said. “I’m optimistic both locations will be open by summer.”

Michael and Mary Ryan opened the market on Tower Hill Road in 1886, and a year later moved it to Brown Street, its current location.

When Michael died, Mary ran the store. Eventually their son, Edwin J. Ryan, took over. By the 1930s the store boasted 12 employees and ran three delivery trucks a day, according to the store’s Web site, www.ryansmarket.com. At various times the store sold boots, shoes, corsets and even bicycles.

The Ryans, who owned other property in the village, sold a building across the street to Howard Ericson, who started a pharmacy, Earnshaw Drug, in the 1930s. The two owners agreed not to sell the same items.

But in recent years the village has lost some of its small-town feel.

Gone is the old barber shop, the Wickford Elementary School and the family-run Mobil station, which still sits empty not far from the closed Wickford Gourmet.

In 2002 the owners of Earnshaw Drug sold the store to Brooks Pharmacy, now Rite Aid, the first chain store in the village.

Ryan’s Market, too, has seen a steady increase in competition. Ten years ago Dave’s Marketplace opened on nearby Tower Hill Road. More recently Stop & Shop opened a retail plaza off Route 4. The new stores have hurt, said the Ryan’s spokesman.

Already, longtime customers are feeling the loss.

“It was a family store with family service,” said Planning Department clerk KarenLu LaPolice. “The boys walked you to your car. You don’t get that anymore.”

The market sold homemade sausage, corned beef and fresh turkeys. During the holidays, customers jammed the store, she said.

In the past, LaPolice often left the Planning Department at lunch hour for soup or a sandwich at Ryan’s. Yesterday, she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she brought from home.

pdavis@projo.com