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Fashion, accessories, bikes and mopeds: Shops on Block Island have opened anew this summer after being reduced to smoky rubble after a fire ripped through the Old Harbor Inn in 2023.
The shops that were once located below the hotel and faced a summer without proper storefronts. It will be quite some time before the hotel is rebuilt and opens again, but these little phoenixes have arisen and found new locations for the summer of 2024.
Royal Jewelers is now open on Chapel Street, still offering unique Block Island pendants and rings. Wild Flowers is now operating on Weldon’s Way, behind the Harborside Inn, opposite Aldo’s Bakery and Restaurant.
“We are now on Chapel Street, actually, right near our former location,” said Suzy Milner, owner of Royal Jewelers.
“We are just happy to have a location. We are fortunate,” said Jennifer Brady, owner of the clothing store that was destroyed when a fire blazed through hotel 12 months ago.
No one injured in the fire, but, the 150-year-old hotel was a complete loss. In it’s place this summer, you will find Island Moped and Bike welcoming island visitors and setting them up with their day’s transport. Island Moped & Bike was previously located behind the Harborside. This year, the company made the best of a bad predicament and set up their business where the hotel once stood. By all accounts, they are having a busy summer as good weather has driven up visitor numbers on the island.
The eco-boutique Adrift is offering a shopping experience under a tent this summer and can be found along Water Street, also on the ground level on the former hotel site.
