Newport Creamery, in Cranston’s Garden City Center. (Vrbo)
It has been widely noted of late and deplored that Cranston’s Newport Creamery is to be shut down. After 63 years across from the Garden City Center’s gazebo, the center’s owner, WS Development, has announced that the Cranston restaurant will be out of luck in 18 months, its lease terminated, and for no easily apparent reason.
Boo!
Boo times two!
The culprit here is vague. Some wonder whether WS wants to replace Newport Creamery with an Apple Store. No reply. Costco? Crickets. Nancy Thomas, publisher of RI News Today.com., seeking comment from WS, called and was asked to call back – not the reply of an enterprising entrpreneur. Could it be, as some suggest, a Ruth’s Chris steak house that is the target of the developer? “No excitement there,” groans Thomas under the topic of “Changing Times.”
Changing times? Well, history is nothing but an endless string of changing times. When are the times not a-changing? Most people wish the times would slow down, and one technique for accomplishing that, other than classical architecture, is Newport Creamery. The provision of high-quality institutions that remind you of the way things used to be. Newport Creamery provides such experiences in spades, and the one in Cranston is special, in part because of the gazebo. with its frequent popular musical performances. The Garden City Center is centrally located, easy to get to. The closest Newport Creamery to GCC is in the Smithfield Mall.
Yes, there are more Newport Creameries – eight in Rhode Island, including its second in Pawtucket, and two in nearby Massachusetts.
Newport Creamery was founded in Newport, in 1928, by Samuel Rector who opened a “Milk Bar” in a dairy on Van Zandt Avenue. It still does what it is good at. May its days in Cranston not be numbered. Public outcry at this commercial atrocity should swift and sure. Saving Newport Creamery will make time stand still in its tracks. Enjoy it.
Architecture Here and There 
Hi David,
Part of me is sad to see Newport Creamery leave Garden City after 63 years—it’s been part of the landscape for generations. But if I’m honest, it feels like the magic faded a while ago. Aside from a renovation maybe 15 years back, not much has changed. The freezer for half gallons is often half empty, the ice cream over-frozen, and the cone counter could use a little sparkle.
It’s always made me wonder—was this just a cash cow for the group all these years? Granted, they don’t own the building, but this was their signature location. Why not invest in it and fight to keep it shining? Instead, it feels like the place was running on nostalgia fumes.
So yes, it’s bittersweet to say goodbye—but maybe the farewell was a long time coming.
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Are the products they sell not enjoyed any longer? Or is the design of the building too old fashioned
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Oops sorry – Hels
Art and Architecture, mainly
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you’re right, it’s pretty icky (sp?)
— David
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