Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Westerly, RI

Benny's Home and Auto Stores - Westerly, RI

  May 06, 2018    Robby S.

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BENNY'S HOME AND AUTO STORES
248 POST ROAD
WESTERLY, RI
CLOSED 2017

Alright everyone... Over the next few weeks I'm going to start a mini-series covering some of the former Benny's Home and Auto locations throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island.



For those of you who aren't familiar with the chain, Benny's was a family-owned local chain of hardware stores which operated throughout the Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Upon the 2016 announcement of the owners' retirement, they decided instead of finding an outside source to manage the businesses, they would close up shop so that Benny's wouldn't expand or transform into a national chain.

One of the Rhode Island location was in Westerly, RI, and arguably was one of the chain's most distinct looking stores with its angular facade. The building was positioned directly in front of a Walmart, which upgraded to a Supercenter format in the early 2000s (2004 I think). Benny's has announced that it has sold off all but two of its former locations to a development firm to redevelop the property and re-purpose the buildings, so it's likely that this Benny's location, much like many others, won't be vacant for too long.

The sign out front of the building has since had the 'Benny's' lettering removed, although a clearly visible labelscar remains.

The same goes for the front of the building... Although the Benny's sign has been removed, no effort has been made to hide the labelscar it left behind.

Peering inside, it's evident that this store used to be Benny's. The tile pattern on the floor remains, and throughout the store, you can sometimes see some old Benny's signage.

The last two images are looking into the windows on wall to the left of the entrance

The tiling pattern on the floor is very much like that of other former Benny's locations. The shelves have also been untouched.

Moving to the leftmost side of the building, much remains from Benny's Auto Center, which featured it's own entrance for customers to wait in while their car was being serviced

And lastly, Benny's featured another sign on the left side of the property, which has since been painted over.

Well that about sums up the remnants of the Benny's location on Post Road in Westerly, RI. If you're interested in learning more about Benny's, be sure to check out the complete directory I created, which outlines every Benny's store in existence before they closed their doors. Also, stay tuned for next week's article on the Benny's store in Norwich, Conn.

~RS