#5. Moravian Bookshop – Bethlehem, PA
This bookshop was opened in 1745, which makes it the oldest bookstore in America. The Moravian opened as a place to print and buy religious texts, but now you can find pretty much any genre you seek among its shelves. Unsurprisingly, some even claim the space is haunted by its lengthy past – literally – with friendly ghosts appearing to current employees on a regular basis.
#4. R.J. Balson & Son – Bridport, England
Photo Credit: The Daily Mail
The Balson family has been in the meat business at the local market since 1515, and they set up their shop – now the oldest butcher shop in the world – in 1880. Its owner jokes, “we’ve just never made enough money to be able to retire.”
#3. Antica Pizzeria Port’alba – Naples, Italy
This pizzeria was founded as a food stall in 1738 and helped transform cheap street food into indoor dining. They also use rocks from Mount Vesuvius to line their oven, and I’m guessing not many restaurants can say that – or that they’re the longest running pizzeria in the world.
#2. Pearson Cycles – Sutton, London, UK
This bicycle shop, established in 1860, is the oldest one in the world. Not only that, but it’s been run by the Pearson family for five generations! Will and Guy Pearson, the great-great-grandsons of the original owners, now run the shop, and they just opened a second location in 2011. Will Pearson told The Telegraph, “We have a slow roll-out program; one store every 150 years.”
The shop even claimed their spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
#1. The Oldest Sweet Shop – Pateley Bridge, England
Photo Credit: This Is Money
Aptly named, this is the oldest sweet shop in the world, operating in the same location since 1827. The way the manager Keith Tordoff describes his business reminds me of the nice shop owner in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original film):
“To me, sweets are all about the memories. You remember sweets from your childhood just like you remember a song. You remember the sweets your grandparents gave you, or giving a packet of Lovehearts to a girl you liked.”
Could he be any more charming? Possibly, as he also described a 97-year-old woman who recently came in and said that, aside from the position of the counter, the place hasn’t changed since she visited as a 5-year-old girl.
