BARRE, Vt. (AP) – The Homer Fitts Co. department store is going out of business 120 years after it first opened downtown.

Both the Barre and Montpelier stores will close.

“It breaks my heart,” said owner Ed Corrigan, the great-grandson of the original Homer Fitts who opened the store in downtown Barre in 1886. “This store has been in my family and on Main Street for more than 100 years.”

Corrigan, who runs the store with his wife Mary, said the store that sells clothing, housewares and gifts stopped making a profit three years ago.

“Mary and I absolutely regret we are having to close,” he said.

“We’ve tried our best to keep the store,” he said. “It’s a very sad thing, but it’s something we must do.”

Corrigan said large stores and the Internet led to the downfall of his and other family-run department stores.

“In a world of Bed, Bath & Beyonds and Linens & Things, can Ed Corrigan really make a living selling sheets, towels and pillows at Homer Fitts?”‘ he asked. “Hello.”

A going out of business sale began on Tuesday. It’s unclear when the doors will close for the last time.

“We’ve got an awful lot of merchandise to get rid of,” he said.

Corrigan said he didn’t know what he’d do with the 16,000-square-foot store in Barre that his family owns.

“I’m excited about the potential,” he said. “We have every hope that what comes in here will be a very good thing for Barre.”

In 1886 Homer Fitts teamed up with J.G. Morrison to open the dry goods store. For three years the store was called Morrison & Fitts, but Fitts bought out Morrison in 1889.