Westhampton Beach is getting its grocery store back, and this time it is a Long Island family operation. Holiday Farms Supermarket has signed a long-term lease for the 30,000-square-foot space at 70 Sunset Ave. formerly occupied by Lidl, Breslin Realty announced this week. The store will be Holiday Farms' fourth on Long Island and its first in Suffolk County.

A Nassau grocer crosses the county line

Holiday Farms is a family-owned supermarket company with three stores, all in Nassau County: Roslyn Heights, Glen Head and Franklin Square. The markets are built around fresh and prepared foods, with on-site chefs preparing meals daily, a bakery, a deli and year-round catering, alongside specialty, gourmet and diet-focused products. The stores also offer home delivery and pickup.

Westhampton Beach is a long jump east from that North Shore footprint, and it takes the company into a village with a year-round population that swells every summer. Justin Breslin, the Breslin Realty vice president who represented Holiday Farms in the lease, said the family-owned market will be a natural fit for the Westhampton Beach community. Staller Associates represented the landlord in the deal.

The Sunset Avenue space

The building at 70 Sunset Ave. has been the village's supermarket anchor for years. Lidl, the German discount grocer, operated there after taking over the space from Best Market, and its departure left the village without its largest food store. At 30,000 square feet, the space gives Holiday Farms room for the full version of its format, kitchen and catering included.

The company has not announced an opening date for the Westhampton Beach store. The lease is signed, and the grocer says the store is coming soon.

What it means for the East End

Westhampton Beach sits at the western gateway to the South Fork, and the village and its neighbors, from Remsenburg and Westhampton to Quogue, have been without a supermarket of this size since the Sunset Avenue store went dark. A full-service market with a kitchen and catering operation returns daily shopping to the village itself rather than a drive up Sunrise Highway.

Holiday Farms' existing stores, hours and delivery options are at holidayfarms.com, where the company will post news on the Westhampton Beach location as the opening approaches.

Sources