The Ashley Cooperative Mercantile, diagonally across the street, began in 1881 as a small one-story log and rock building and by 1900 had become a new two-story general merchandise store selling groceries, meat, dry goods, hardware, shoes, and men's clothing. Area residents used it not only for shopping but also to deposit and exchange money, obtain loans, and make investments, and the growing volume of money led to the establishment of the first Bank of Vernal, which opened inside the Co-op in 1903. To discourage local outlaws, the new bank included a large walk-in vault and a bulletproof screen around a steel-lined counter. In the early 1880's, two armed horsemen robbed the Co-op at closing time, confronting a store clerk on a ladder as he showed a new brimmed hat to two customers, firing a shot that grazed his hatband, and escaping with the money. Butch Cassidy, Robert Leroy Parker, also shopped there, and in 1896 he bought a Colt .45 single-action revolver that may have been used in his exploits with the Wild Bunch.