— Furniture Today,
WARWICK, R.I. — Burke-Tarr Furniture, believed to be Rhode Island’s oldest furniture store, is closing after 119 years in business.


Peter W. Burke and Herman E. Tarr established the company in 1887 to cater to the upper-class “carriage trade.” Bessie Nickerson, longtime president and current owner, made the decision to close.

“After 61 years, I’m getting too old to stay in the business,” she said.

The store was handed down through her family but there’s no one else to pass it on to now, she said.
Nickerson has already let her staff of six go, and is in the process of clearing out the 12,000-square-foot store that had been full of midpriced to high-end furniture, lamps and accessories.

“I’m getting rid of it all, and will close as soon as everything is gone,” she said.

Burke-Tarr Furniture spent its first 68 years as a downtown Providence, R.I., landmark, located in the historic four-story Richmond building at 270 Weybosset St.

In 1956, the store temporarily relocated to Broad Street while it built a new showroom at 1441 Warwick Ave., where it moved two years later.

Little Rock, Ark.-based Wahlquist Management was hired to conduct the store closing sales event.