It is Wednesday morning in West Tisbury and the sun streams out of a cloudless September sky, spilling through the front door of Alley’s General Store and flooding the old, worn floorboards with a warm, golden light. Out on the front porch a group of oldtimers stand amid stacks of pumpkins, drinking their morning coffee and holding court. Owen Ware, age two and a half, stands nearby, a half-eaten bag of M&Ms clutched in his left fist. A familiar up-Island resident pulls up in his car and Owen lifts a small hand in greeting. “Hi Ted!” he calls out. Ted returns the salutation.
The operators of Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury have traditionally been known as the “Dealers in Almost Everything.”
But it seems that the current Alley’s operators cannot deal with their landlord, the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust.
The current operators — Victor Spelman, Emily Milstein and Will and Deborah Ware — have decided to sell their interest in the State Road general store in order to concentrate on a new retail business in Oak Bluffs.
The addition of plastic trim at the oldest retail store on Martha’s Vineyard has officials in West Tisbury questioning whether they should allow new modern construction materials on historic buildings.
The new proprietors of Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury quietly reopened the famous shop Saturday morning, quickly drawing customers after a summer-long closure.
Punctuating a summer of upheaval, the Vineyard Trust announced changes in board leadership, and said it had launched a search for a new executive director.
Alley’s General Store will likely remain closed throughout the summer, representatives for the Vineyard Trust told the West Tisbury select board Wednesday.
Concerned about the shuttered state of Alley’s General Store, the West Tisbury select board said this week it will invite spokesmen for the Vineyard Trust to appear at next week’s meeting.
The Wampanoag Tribe will purchase Back Alley’s in West Tisbury for a price reported to be in the high six figures.
Howard and Susie Ulfelder, longtime owners of the up-Island bakery and deli, have already accepted the tribe’s offer and expect the deal to close in the next few weeks.
The purchase will consolidate tribal ownership of Back Alley’s with its management of Alley’s General Store, which the tribe leases from the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust.
The trust announced Thursday that the owners of LeRoux — a kitchen and home-goods store based in Vineyard Haven — will manage the historic general store.
