THIS NOVA SCOTIA STORE HAS BEEN OPEN SINCE BEFORE CANADA EXISTEDA store opened on the Shubenacadie River in 1839 and it is still selling groceries this afternoon. 
When David Frieze unlocked those doors in Maitland, Nova Scotia was not part of Canada yet. Confederation was 28 years away. 
Maitland was a shipbuilding town then. Frieze sold goods and owned sailing vessels, and in the 1860s Adam Roy came in with him. The name became Frieze and Roy in 1868. 
Adam’s brother Alexander built ships on that same waterfront, including the barque Snow Queen. 
Adam’s brother Alexander built ships on that same waterfront, including the barque Snow Queen. The store’s biggest day on the books was 1862. Twenty seven thousand dollars in sales, and fourteen ships loaded before dark. 
The shipyards are long gone. The store is not. 
187 years later the lights still come on in the morning. 
There is still bread and produce on the shelves 
, there is still ice cream 
, and there is still fish and chips out back with the river running past the window. 
There is still bread and produce on the shelves , there is still ice cream , and there is still fish and chips out back with the river running past the window. It is the oldest general store in Nova Scotia, and it calls itself the oldest in Canada. An Ontario store disputes that by three years. Nobody disputes the 1839. 
Who remembers being sent to a general store as a kid? What did you get sent for? 