The owners of Cannell's Country Store have announced that they are closing the store effective Sept. 25 and they are seeking a new tenant. RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Stephanie Cannell Mullins said they are looking for a tenant after Cannell's Country Store closes in Intervale on Sept. 25. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)
Cannell's features tables looking out to the state's Scenic Vista Rest Area in Intervale. The family donated the land to the state for the Scenic Vista in 1967. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)
A vintage sign pertaining to the former Abenaki Indian Shop on display at Cannell's Country Store. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO
The owners of Cannell's Country Store have announced that they are closing the store effective Sept. 25 and they are seeking a new tenant. RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Stephanie Cannell Mullins said they are looking for a tenant after Cannell's Country Store closes in Intervale on Sept. 25. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)
Cannell's features tables looking out to the state's Scenic Vista Rest Area in Intervale. The family donated the land to the state for the Scenic Vista in 1967. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)
A vintage sign pertaining to the former Abenaki Indian Shop on display at Cannell's Country Store. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO
CONWAY — Cannell’s Old Fashioned Country Store, a roadside attraction on Route 16 in Intervale since 1940, will close its doors later this month.
“It is with very heavy hearts that after 138 years of operation we announce the closing of Cannell’s Country Store on Sept. 25. Like many small businesses, the past couple of years has brought many challenges that have become too much to overcome. We are thankful for the generations of customers and dedicated employees who have made Cannell’s what it is. Your effect on our family will never be forgotten,” the owners, the Cannell sisters, posted in a Conway Daily Sun ad and on Facebook recently.
Inflationary factors and the interruption that COVID caused on the family business were cited as factors by sister Stephanie Cannell Mullins in an interview with the Sun this past weekend.
The sisters' late father, John Cannell, ran the store after his father Ray’s passing in 1977. John died in 2018. John’s daughters took over the business in 2020 and subsequently renovated the store.
The store sells newspapers, coffee, and beer and wine along with spices, ice cream novelties, soft drinks and tourist-themed knickknacks.
It has an extensive postcard collection left over from their grandparents’ days of operating the store.
The store features many keepsakes from its colorful past. An old 1950s vintage Sealtest ice cream freezer stands in the middle of the display area. Mullins said a descendant of the Sealtest family has already spoken for that piece of nostalgia.
Also on display is a refurbished carriage along with signs dating from the past and old photographs. There are even signs to the Abenaki Village that once was located nearby at Intervale Crossroad.
The grandparents always sold maple candies and penny candy along with maple syrup, balsam novelties and many more old fashioned products.
The family tradition of serving the public dates back to 1884, when their great-grandmother, Minnie Moore Cannell, mother of their grandfather Ray Cannell, started a tea room in Glen to serve railroad guests.
The then elderly Minnie and her son Ray moved operations to Intervale in 1940, buying the Intervale Inn and abutting Elmwood Inn, the latter is now Keller Williams Lakes and Mountains’ Intervale location and opened the store.
They wanted to serve the fledgling ski population in the valley, then known as the Eastern Slope Region. The Cannell family called the Elmwood "the Annex," because they used it for overflow inn guests.
When the 50-room Intervale Inn burned on John Cannell’s 18th birthday in February 1948, Ray and wife Lydia purchased a building across Route 16 and ran that as the New Intervale Inn.
That building was razed in 1966 with the land donated for today’s Scenic Vista that they donated to the state in 1967. Lydia Cannell died in 1970 and Ray in 1977.
Current tenants, Trails End Ice Cream, Subway, Intervale Lock Shop, Independent Valley Pharmacy and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/The Masiello Group will all still operate within the plaza.
Mullins said she is seeking a tenant for the soon-to-be-vacant store space.
“People keep coming in and saying, ‘Oh no! You’re selling Cannell’s!’ We’re not — we’re closing the store and hoping to rent the space out,” said Mullins.
Mullins said she and her sisters have enjoyed listening to the stories from generations of customers about their memories of the store.
“Please come in, have a cup of coffee, enjoy the beautiful view and share your stories with us the next two weekends,” Mullins said.
The store is having a 20 percent off sale now through the closing.
Hours are Friday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
For leasing information, contact plaza manager Chris Greenwood at chris@cannellcompany.com or (603) 986-4532.
The Cannells made the news in 2020 with their sale in December 2020 of the nearby 1960s-built, 16-room, single-story Intervale Motel to hoteliers for $1.4 million. That parcel was originally proposed to the Conway Planning Board to be 105 rooms and four stories but was scaled back and is to become the 98-room, three-story Viewpoint North Conway LLC Hotel.
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