The corner of Orient that went quiet the day before Easter is getting ready to hum again. North Star Orient, the shop moving into the former Candy Man property at 22350 Main Road, is aiming to open in September, and the candy that generations of North Fork families drove out for is the centerpiece of the plan.

The Candy Man closed this spring after nearly four decades of homemade chocolate and penny-style sweets, and the closing left one of Long Island's most beloved small storefronts dark at the gateway to the hamlet. Debbie and Jim Michta ran the shop for close to 40 years, tempering chocolate on a big worktable that became as much a part of the place as the candy itself.

That table is staying. The new operators have moved it into the display area, where it will sit among the shop's original shelving and cabinets, kept in place and freshly painted rather than ripped out. The building is being renovated to read the way a vintage candy store should, not gutted into something generic.

Who is behind North Star

The property was bought by Don Jayamaha, an attorney from Mattituck, and the shop will be run by Lucy Barnes, an Orient resident who spent about a decade running a womenswear and antiques boutique in Manhattan's Meatpacking District before moving out to the North Fork. State records show North Star Orient LLC was registered with the Department of State on July 13, a Suffolk County company formed specifically for the project.

An exact opening date has not been announced. The target is September, and the pair have said only that they are a few weeks out as the renovation wraps up.

What will be inside

The candy comes first. Plans call for an old-fashioned pick-and-mix, the kind of setup where a kid with a bag chooses one piece at a time from dozens of varieties, along with the nostalgic items the Candy Man was known for. The new owners have said they intend to work with the same candy suppliers the Michtas used, which matters more than any coat of paint: it is the difference between a candy store on that corner and the candy store people remember.

Around the sweets, the shop is set up to fill the everyday gaps in a hamlet with almost no retail left. There are plans for grab-and-go convenience staples, the milk-and-batteries category that currently requires a drive to Greenport, along with sunscreen and other summer basics, a corner of antiques and vintage books, and an ambition to stock the Town of Southold's yellow garbage bags so Orient residents can stop making a special trip for them. The stated plan is seven days a week, open until at least 6 p.m.

The property around the building is part of the picture too. Electric vehicle chargers are planned for the adjacent lot, and there are talks to put bicycle repair service in one of the small outbuildings, a nod to the cyclists who stream past the shop toward Orient Point all summer.

Why this corner matters

Orient sits at the very end of the North Fork, and the shop occupies one of the most naturally trafficked spots on the East End: it is among the first businesses travelers pass after rolling off the Cross Sound Ferry at Orient Point. The new owners have talked about leaning into that, treating the store as an informal welcome center for the North Fork, a place to grab a map of the wine trail along with a bag of sweets.

For locals, though, the draw is simpler. The Candy Man was the kind of business people measured their childhoods by, and its closing this spring was felt well beyond the hamlet. The new shop does not bring back the old name, but it brings back the thing the name stood for: a white building on Main Road where the candy is made the way it always was, sold a piece at a time.

Watch for a firm opening date in the coming weeks. If the September timing holds, the North Fork's candy stop will be back in business before the fall leaf-peeping traffic starts rolling east, and well before the first chocolate bunny season on the new owners' watch.