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Tenants rush uptown to new apartments

by Elana Glowatz - June 14, 2016

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texaco-apt-construction-june2016-11_glowatzw — The second phase of construction is underway at the Texaco Avenue apartments. Photo by Elana Glowatz

If you build it, they will come.

Port Jefferson developer Rail Realty LLC proved that old adage when Rob Gitto, from its parent company The Gitto Group, confirmed its uptown apartment project is already at full rental capacity — a month before it is even slated to open.

Gitto said the 38 units in the first completed apartment building has been completely pre-leased and there is a waiting list for the second building, which will add another approximately 36 units when completed next year.

Most of those future tenants are affiliated with Stony Brook University in some way, Gitto said, whether they are graduate students, medical residents, professors, nurses, doctors or other staff. There are also a few people from John T. Mather Memorial Hospital’s new residency program.

The first phase of the Texaco Avenue apartments is complete. Photo by Elana Glowatz

Officials broke ground on the much-anticipated project, dubbed The Hills at Port Jefferson, in May 2015, expressing hope that the first new development in upper Port would spur revitalization efforts in the troubled area.

Village leaders have been trying to enhance the uptown’s Main Street corridor, between North Country/Sheep Pasture Road and the Long Island Rail Road tracks, with the goal of improving quality of life, making it more pedestrian-friendly and attracting developers and visitors.

At the groundbreaking last year, Mayor Margot Garant said the 74 Texaco Avenue apartments would be “so important” to the revitalization.

Gitto thinks it’s already propelled other improvements. He said Monday that he has seen one nearby business making improvements to an existing establishment and two others sign leases to bring in new ones.

“We wanted to see the area revitalized and we’re seeing it,” he said, adding about the rest of the uptown area, “We definitely hope they follow suit.”

There are other community benefits attached: Under the conditions of the project’s approval, Rail Realty has to make improvements to a pocket park on the west side of Texaco that currently has a jungle gym, swings and a basketball hoop, and improve traffic flow in the area by redesigning the intersection of Main Street and Sheep Pasture Road.

Construction has gone in phases. Last year, Rail Realty knocked down vacant homes and buildings along the east side of Texaco Avenue between Sheep Pasture Road and Linden Place to make way for the two three-story buildings — which will have a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments — and began working on the northern building. That was completed recently, with the new apartments visible from some angles on Main Street, a block over. The developer got started right on the foundation of the second building, to the south.

Garant announced the milestone at a village board of trustees meeting on June 6, saying people would start moving into the first apartment building in mid-July.

Resident parking is underground, a noteworthy element for a small village in which having more cars than parking spaces has long been an issue. And toward the end of the second ongoing apartment construction phase, the developers will bring down a building on the south side of the Texaco Avenue and Linden Place intersection, the Stony Brook Electric Inc. building, to make room for additional above-ground parking.

That’s also when the park improvements will take place, Gitto said. Plans are still developing, but they might include landscaping, such as flowers and necessary irrigation, and taking down an unused shed there.

For The Gitto Group — which has built up other parts of Port Jefferson, including an office building, the CVS and the Barnum House apartments on Main Street — things are falling into place faster than anticipated. Rob Gitto said the project was done in phases because the developers weren’t sure how well the first set of apartments would be received and how quickly they would be leased.

“We knew it would be successful but we didn’t know it would sell that quickly.”

Construction's coming along at the Texaco Ave. apartments in upper #PortJeff. pic.twitter.com/PazTUHR62B

— Elana Glowatz (@ElanaGlow) June 10, 2016

Incubated businesses bloom at Stony Brook University

by Phil Corso - June 9, 2016

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StonyBrookBusinessIncubator20160601PhilCorso05w — Business owners mingle at the incubator showcase last Thursday morning inside one of the research centers at Stony Brook University. Photo by Phil Corso

Stony Brook University graduate Frank Zinghini originally started his software vulnerability management company Code Dx out of Northport, but he has since setup shop in a more “incubated” environment, thanks to the university’s office of economic development.

Now, he and his team don’t even need to pick up a phone to chat with like-minded entrepreneurs — all they need to do is poke their heads next door.

“We need engineering help, and we’re looking to the university for that,” said Brianne O’Brien, director of sales and training at Code Dx. “It’s amazing the amount of attention we have here.”

Code Dx was one of nearly 40 booths cascaded throughout the second floor of the campus’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology building on Thursday, as its office of economic development flexed its muscles at an incubator showcase. Businesses did a lot of sharing throughout the day — of their stories, but also of mentorship, advice, expertise and more.

Yacov Shamash, vice president for economic development at the university, said the goal was to link the academic and research resources of the campus with the greater economic needs of Long Island and New York State. Much like a mother bird sitting over her egg before it hatches, the university has been “incubating” businesses in various centers across the island with an eye on tomorrow.

Many of those businesses that blossom underneath the incubator umbrella explore various facets of science and technology and end up employing Stony Brook University grads and other North Shore natives before branching out, the vice president said.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for learning and hiring,” he said. “It’s a positive thing for Long Island — no question.”

Ann-Marie Scheidt, director of economic development at the university, said last Thursday was the university’s first incubator showcase, showing off just what kinds of innovation occurred on a daily basis there and just how diverse it could be. It is that diversity that she said was essential when confronting the region’s problems of tomorrow.

“As they grow up, we provide them with the help they need. But they also become connected with other local groups doing business around them,” Shamash said in an interview. “Our goal is to embed them in the Long Island community and to create great jobs.”

One of the incubated companies took the spotlight that afternoon as a “graduate” of the university’s business incubator program. Codagenix Inc. spent the past three years “incubating” at the campus and has grown to a point where they were able to move to a larger space in Melville, and North Shore lawmakers made sure they were there to send them off.

Yi-Xian Qin of QB Sonic Inc. smiled from ear-to-ear as he shared the medical advancements of his incubated business, which was working to develop a noninvasive ultrasound simulator to address common injuries like hip fractures. He said it was the incubation that actually helped his company thrive at such an early stage in its first year.

“The incubator is flexible,” he said. “You can be a huge company or occupy a small office. Either way, it lets you meet with other companies. It’s very good for the other start-ups.”

North Shore suffering from shoddy sea bass season

by Victoria Espinoza - June 9, 2016

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Northport_sunset_harbor_water_risoliw — File photo

Something seems fishy this black sea bass fishing season.

Local legislators, fishers and state organizations alike agree that there are issues with how black sea bass fishing is being regulated.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for modifications to what he said are “inflexible” and “outdated” federal regulations for black sea bass fishing, which some North Shore fisherman said are hurting their wallets because they have to wait to fish during this crucial fishing period.

Schumer said at an event in Northport last Wednesday that the bottom feeders are not being fairly managed, and the next permitted fishing period should be allowed to start in June instead of July to put people to work at harvesting the plentiful populations.

“After a slow start to the black sea bass season, mostly due to weather, our Long Island commercial fishers are ready to bounce back and access the plentiful supply of sea bass,” Schumer said at the event. “But instead they might fall flat if the feds and the state don’t throw them a line and let them do what they do best — fish.”

“They might fall flat if the feds and the state don’t throw them a line.” —Chuck Schumer

Three organizations — the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Mid-Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission — jointly manage black sea bass fishing, by determining the quota for sea bass each year. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation then determines the quota distribution through the state and periods throughout the year when fishermen can fish for black sea bass.

The quota this year was set at about 189,000 pounds and the most recent period for sea bass fishing ended on May 31, with the next slated to begin on July 1.

According to the Atlantic States group, “The objectives of [management] are to reduce fishing mortality to assure overfishing does not occur, … promote compatible regulations among states and between federal and state jurisdictions…and to minimize regulations necessary to achieve the stated objectives.”

Kirby Rootes-Murdy, that commission’s senior fishery management plan coordinator, said it works to ensure that the black sea bass population stays at a safe level.

But Schumer said the break in June is only hurting fishermen.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer speaks to fishermen in Northport last week. Photo from Marisa Kaufman

“Below-average black sea bass catch rates … have made it so the total catch at this point of the season is well below the allowable quota limits,” Schumer said, “which is why it is critical to allow these struggling fishermen to continue catching black sea bass this month.”

Sean Mahar, the DEC director of communications, acknowledged fishing got off to a slow start, and said the DEC is committed to re-opening the season before the July 1 date, as long as it’s accurate that anglers are below quota — the agency is still investigating that.

Through May 21, only one-third of the May quota had been harvested, “with approximately 42,000 pounds [still] available on May 21,” Mahar said in an email.

“However, the harvest rate increased dramatically the last week in May, and the state is still awaiting data from the commercial fishermen and dealers that are required to submit landings and sales reports to DEC to determine the how much of the quota was actually harvested. If there is quota leftover, we will open the season again sooner than July 1.”

Mahar also said the DEC has pressed federal regulators, including the Atlantic States commission, to implement changes to improve fishery in New York, including the system for tabulating bass populations.

“The increasingly restrictive measures demanded of Northeastern states are inequitable and cause great socioeconomic harm to our anglers and related businesses,” DEC Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement. Regulatory agencies “must revise their management strategy and not keep New York … at a competitive disadvantage while the black sea bass population continues to grow.”

“It’s a disaster for conservation and the economy.”
—James Schneider

Rootes-Murdy said these decisions on quotas are based on population projections for the species but black sea bass pose a challenge for accurate projections, as they are a hermaphroditic species, meaning they change sex from male to female.

“That aspect makes it difficult to develop a population model around,” Rootes-Murdy said.

North Shore fishermen said the break in the season is hurting their livelihood.

“It’s a disaster for conservation and the economy,” said James Schneider, a boat captain in Huntington. “It’s crushed us.”

Schneider is catching other fish in the meantime and said he has been forced to throw back black sea bass he inadvertently catches. Those die shortly after, he said, further contributing to a loss in potential profits.

Northport fishing captain Stu Paterson said he agreed that he has had to throw back many sea bass during the off-season, as they “are all over the Sound right now.”

He also questioned why Connecticut’s black sea bass season, which opened on May 1 and runs through Dec. 31, allows fishermen to start earlier than in New York, as they share a body of water.

Maker Faire makes for a good time

by Heidi Sutton - June 6, 2016

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The Maritime Explorium children’s museum in Port Jefferson hosted the Eastern Long Island Mini Maker Faire on June 4, bringing innovators from all over and loads of fun stuff for kids and adults to check out.

The fair filled up the museum, the harborfront park and all three floors of the Village Center in Port Jefferson.

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Farmers market set for 2016 season

by Victoria Espinoza - June 3, 2016

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Northport-Farmers-Market-June-2015_1w — An employee from Ridgewood Pork Store serves a customer at the Northport Farmers’ Market on Saturday, June 6. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

The Northport Farmers Market’s 2016 season is set to start this Saturday, June 4, from 8 a.m. to noon, and run till mid-November at the Cow Harbor parking lot off Main Street in the village.

The market is open rain or shine.

Fresh strawberries are on display at the Northport Farmers’ Market last year. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Medical product firm opens research facility in Smithtown

by Alex Petroski - June 2, 2016

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RibbonCut2_Petroski_052616w — Christopher Montalbano, left, and Gregory Montalbano, center, cut the ribbon on MIDI medical product development consulting firm’s Smithtown headquarters as Edward Dutton, right, looks on. Photo by Alex Petroski

A more than 40-year-old Long Island based company cut the ribbon on a brand new facility last Thursday.

The medical product development consulting firm MIDI officially opened a new headquarters and innovation center on Main Street in Smithtown in the Village of The Branch as a place to research and develop medical technology. MIDI has worked with clients such as Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Siemens and also will serve as a resource for Stony Brook University medical students in their new home.

“We strongly believe in creating growth opportunities for the medical and biotech industries on Long Island and in the greater New York area,” MIDI Principal and Huntington resident Gregory Montalbano said in a statement. He and his brother Christopher Montalbano are the principals of the Long Island-based firm which was started by their father Anthony in 1972. “Our new Innovation Center will foster new technology and product commercialization efforts for innovations obtained through academic research as well as for concepts developed by our local, national, and international commercial clients.”

The innovation center is equipped with a research, design and engineering studio, a prototyping lab and three-dimensional printing capability for the roughly 30 engineers, designers, software programmers and researchers. MIDI has supported the development of medical technologies over the years including the first commercial MRI scanner, surgical devices, a partial-body MRI, a three-dimensional dental scanner and countless others.

Gregory Montalbano suggested in an interview following the ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday that medical innovation could become a staple of Long Island industry in the coming years, replacing the manufacturing industry, which has slowly left Long Island, he said. Most similar facilities to MIDI’s innovation center are located on the west coast or in the Boston area, according to the firm, though the Montalbanos envision Long Island garnering that reputation in the future.

“Long Island is, in my opinion, becoming a very high-tech medical and bioscience hub,” he said. “In five to ten years, I feel that it will be very prevalent and people will be coming here in order to do that type of business and it’ll just grow from there.”

The look of other buildings along Main Street were taken into account in designing the innovation center, according to Kevin Harney, the principal of Stalco Construction, who served as the general contractor for the building.

“The architecture of the new $5 million, one-story building reflects the colonial feel of the historic Village of The Branch neighborhood, which dates back to the late 1600s,” Harney said in a statement. “The building’s façade features brick face, columns and other ornamental architectural elements prevalent in the landmark structures neighboring the new development.”

Chairman of the Planning Board of The Village of The Branch John Carro thanked MIDI and Stalco for maintaining that consistency.

“What’s very impressive, and we got a tour of the inside, is the high-tech inside of the building, but yet when you go to the outside, you see it matches the 1860s façade of all of the buildings along Middle Country Road here,” Carro said. “We appreciate that design and their working with the village in presenting their building in the proper manner.”

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin’s (R-Shirley) sent a spokesperson to convey his excitement in the opening of the new facility and the possibilities it presents in the field of medical research and development. State Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) attended the event and expressed a similar sentiment.

Lawmakers want tobacco shops to back off

by Elana Glowatz - June 1, 2016

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vapors-smoke-shop-01_glowatzw — Vapors is located on Main Street in Port Jefferson. Photo by Elana Glowatz

Local governments are cracking down on smoking in all its forms by confining related businesses to certain locations.

Brookhaven Town recently restricted smoke shops and lounges and one village is looking to strengthen rules already in place for the establishments.

The action started in the fall, when the Port Jefferson Village Board of Trustees passed a law that effectively banned hookah shops, as well as tattoo parlors and adult entertainment. Residents and village officials had been vocal about what they perceived to be too many shops on Main Street selling hookahs — water pipes used for smoking flavored tobacco — and their related products. Many had complained that the businesses attract an undesirable type of person to the area and sell unhealthy items. Some also said they feared the shops would sell paraphernalia and dangerous substances to underage patrons.

The dissent propelled a law that now restricts future hookah shops, tattoo parlors and adult establishments like topless bars to the Light Industrial I-2 District zone. While the preexisting shops are not affected, the law effectively bans future shops because only two properties in the entire village are zoned light industrial — and both of those Columbia Street plots are already occupied.

Hookah City is located on Main Street in Port Jefferson. Photo by Elana Glowatz

Passing an outright ban would have been an illegal action.

Port Jefferson Village is now seeking to tighten its restrictions by folding into the law marijuana dispensaries and stores selling products linked to e-cigarettes and vaporizers. The village code proposal, which will come up for a public hearing on June 6, states that such establishments bring “well-documented negative secondary effects … such as increased crime, decreased property values and reduced shopping and commercial activities.” It also cites the health risks of e-cigarettes and the dangers of exposing children to the behavior.

“The expansion of the foregoing businesses has resulted in increased anti-social behavior involving minors,” it says.

Among the restrictions, the shops in the light industrial zone could not be within a certain distance of facilities such as community centers, churches or schools.

The Town of Brookhaven got on the same train recently when its town board passed a law on May 12 that restricts indoor smoking establishments — businesses in which tobacco in any form, including through e-cigarettes and vaporizers, or other substances are smoked indoors. New shops can now no longer open within certain distances of residential areas, schools, churches, parks or other family- or child-oriented places. They also cannot open within 1 mile of one another.

Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point), who came up with the idea, touted it as a measure to prevent kids from using drugs.

“You cannot believe how creative addicts and users are when it comes to situations like this,” she said, “what they can do and how they can manipulate this apparatus.”

Some have used hookahs, vaporizers and other tobacco devices to smoke marijuana, among other substances.

“This legislation came to pass because of what we see, what’s happening in our communities all over the place,” Bonner said. “This is a very important first step and we may take further steps as we see how this works out.”

Both the town and village laws have had their critics. In Port Jefferson, Trustee Bruce D’Abramo and other residents did not want the village interfering with the free market, which would determine how many smoke shops one neighborhood could sustain, and did not want the village policing people’s heath. They compared the smoke shops to the numerous bars in downtown Port Jefferson.

And Alex Patel, who works at Rocky Point Smoke & Vape Shop, said the town law might have little payoff because parents buy devices for their kids or the kids shop online — those under 21 may still get what they are looking for.

“Online, I see people buying left and right,” Patel said about vaporizers and similar devices. “It’s much cheaper online because they’re buying in bulk.”

But the town law also had community support: “When I think of these [smoking] lounges I think of heroin dens, something I read about and saw movies about when I was a child and scared the heck out of me,” Jeff Kagan, of the Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization, said May 12. “I believe that we don’t really know what these dens are all about or what’s really going to go on in these facilities. We don’t know the long-term impact.”

Alex Petroski contributed reporting.

Kings Park Farmers Market back for sixth year

by Alex Petroski - May 26, 2016

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6588_B8_rgbw — The Smithtown Town Board announced last week the Kings Park Farmers Market will be returning on June 5 and running through the fall. File photo

For a sixth year, Smithtown residents will be treated to something fresh, sweet, organic, savory and local.

The Kings Park Farmers Market, which was founded in 2010, is set to open for the 2016 season very soon. The Sunday market will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from June 5 to Nov. 20 in the municipal parking lot on the corner of Route 25A and Main Street in Kings Park across the street from the fire department. The market will offer certified organic vegetables and greens, Long Island corn, poultry, eggs, heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, squash, onions, cheese, milk, pasta, pickles, smoked pork, soaps, local fish, baked goods, gluten-free cookies, soy candles and more.

“We are excited to be back in Kings Park after a long off-season and we just enjoy reconnecting with our friends and customers who are all so loyal to the market,” Bernadette Martin, who organizes farmers markets across Long Island through her company Friends and Farmers Inc., said in an email Tuesday. Martin’s markets get the name LI Green Market.

One of the new vendors participating in the Sunday market this year that Martin is excited about is Crimson & Cove, a Nesconset-based line of organic herbs and spices. They join returning vendors Blue Duck Bakery, St. James Brewery, Salce Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegars, The Fink Family Farm and many more.

The market began years ago when Kings Park residents Ann Marie Nedell and civic association member Alyson Elish-Swartz each separately wanted a farmers market for Kings Park. Kings Park Civic Association President Sean Lehmann got Nedell and Elish-Swartz in contact with each other, and after some community crowd-sourcing they came up with logistical ideas for the market. When they met Martin, the idea turned into reality. Martin’s Friends and Farmers Inc. paired up with the Kings Park Civic Association to sponsor the market. Martin manages the market every Sunday.

“The Kings Park Civic Association is such a great partner on this project and bring wonderfully entertaining live music to the market weekly,” Martin said. “We will also be having more cooking demonstrations scheduled for this year as we launch our Know Real Food Campaign for 2016.”

The market is a popular spot for shoppers every year.

“Everyone in the community is really looking forward to another exciting year at the market,” a statement on the Kings Park Civic Association website said. “It has become the cornerstone of our town and really enhances the sense of community in our hamlet while vitalizing our downtown business area.”

For more information about the Kings Park Farmers Market visit www.ligreenmarket.org.

Demolition begins at old motel to make way for apartments

by Elana Glowatz - May 17, 2016

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heritage-motel-demo91_glowatzw — Demolition at the Heritage Inn motel in Port Jefferson gets underway on May 17. Photo by Elana Glowatz

By Elana Glowatz

Smashes and gashes, scraps to dust.

Officials started to take down the decrepit Heritage Inn motel in downtown Port Jefferson on Tuesday morning, sending sledgehammers into a glass window and dropping an excavator’s arm onto the roof of one structure on the West Broadway site.

It was the first step toward new construction at the spot, where TRITEC Real Estate Company is putting up a 112-unit apartment building with parking underneath the structure, near the intersection with Barnum Avenue.

Bob Coughlan swings a sledgehammer into glass at the Heritage Inn motel, the blighted Port Jefferson site where his real estate company is building apartments. Photo by Elana Glowatz

Previously called the Residences at Port Jefferson, TRITEC’s Bob Coughlan said on Tuesday that the apartments will be called “The Shipyard.” He estimated the project would be completed in 20 months.

“We’re thrilled to add to the vibrancy of the community,” said Coughlan, a TRITEC principal who lives in Port Jefferson.

He and Mayor Margot Garant did the honors in the ceremonial demolition, with both taking sledgehammers to a glass window in the attendant’s booth toward the front of the property before Garant got behind the controls of an excavator and sent its arm down hard into the roof of that booth, crushing everything underneath it to cheers from onlookers.

“We had the honor of taking the first bite out of the building and it was very cathartic,” she said afterward, noting that she was still shaking from the experience.

More demolition was scheduled to occur on the property later in the week, with a groundbreaking on the three-story luxury apartment building in June.

According to the plans approved by the Port Jefferson Planning Board, there will be 42 one-bedroom apartments and 70 two-bedroom, and the building will take up less than half of the 3.74-acre property to leave room for landscaping and buffers. The project did not require any variances or special exceptions from the village.

#Demolition at the decrepit Heritage Inn started out with an easy sledgehammer swing. #PortJeff @TRITEC_RE pic.twitter.com/GdCqUyGzJ4

— Elana Glowatz (@ElanaGlow) May 17, 2016

And turned into destruction with an excavator. Bye bye, Heritage Inn. #PortJeff @TRITEC_RE pic.twitter.com/RRqjufhuym

— Elana Glowatz (@ElanaGlow) May 17, 2016

Italian market stays in the family

by Desirée Keegan - May 13, 2016

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Del-Fiore-sisters-Lorian-Prince-Camille-Pabon-and-mother-Marie-DElia-1w — Lorian Prince, Marie D’Elia and Camille Pabon stand outside the storefront. Photo by Desirée Keegan

When Camille Pabon and Lorian Prince aren’t working, they’re still together, whether it be just hanging out or coming back to Del Fiore Italian Market, the business the two sisters own, to make dinner for the family.

“Even on our days off, we still hang out,” Prince said. “But the store is like home base. After work we call each other. People would think, ‘Haven’t I had enough of you yet?’”

The bond the two have makes for a thriving business, both because of the home-style, handmade, all-natural products they put out and because of the atmosphere they create.

“My dad remembers everybody’s name and I always marveled at that,” Prince said of Salvatore D’Elia, who opened the first Del Fiore Italian Pork Store in Patchogue with his brother Felice D’Elia and brother-in-law Carmine Galeotafiore in 1971. “He always has some sort of story to go along with each customer, and even today when he comes in, people love the little information that he throws at them from way back when.”

Fresh cold cuts and products like ravioli, meatballs and sausage line the glass cases inside the market and Italian novelties hang above the counter. Photo by Desirée Keegan

The sisters have tried to do the same.

“I’m not good with names. I’m really good with faces, and then I feel guilty because I don’t remember their names, but they’re really good with that,” said Heather Crane, a longtime friend of Pabon’s who’s worked on and off with the family for 20 years. “They’re like a second family here. They get along so well and I envy their relationship. I admire it. My family works together and I don’t want to be there with all that chaos, but they’re really cute together.”

The Del Fiore store in Patchogue, which has since moved up the block from its original location, is still owned by the Galeotafiore family, and Felice D’Elia has since moved to Florida and opened up a similar deli there.

Salvatore D’Elia opened up the Rocky Point shop in March 1973 with his wife Marie, who said she used to take time on her lunch breaks from her job at Slomin’s, which was next door to one of the company’s several locations in Massapequa, to stock shelves with her husband.

“It was a first time for me to run a business and first time for him to run a business, and we did well,” she said.

Pabon and Prince started in the Rocky Point store at a young age.

“I wanted to do everything and I started serving customers as soon as I could see over the counter,” Pabon said. “Maybe not very well, but I thought I was doing something.”

Seeing the company pass onto the next generation is something that warms their mother’s heart.

“He and I are very, very proud of them taking over and doing a wonderful job,” she said. “Better than us, actually.”

Camille Pabon and Lorian Prince, who said her mind was blown when she found out other foods besides Italian existed, took over Del Fiore Italian Market 10 years ago. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Modestly, the sisters laugh about doing a better job than their parents. Although Del Fiore closed its doors in several locations like Massapequa, Selden, College Point and Ronkonkoma, business remains in Rocky Point.

“In the summertime, we do a lot of catering, providing some of the wineries with sandwiches — a man does a wine tour and puts out hot food from us every weekend — so we dread the weekends in the summer,” Pabon said, laughing. “We don’t look forward to them at all.”

The sisters make fresh mozzarella, ravioli, fried eggplant, sopressata and meatballs, among other Italian products, at the shop they renamed Del Fiore Italian Market when they took over the company 10 years ago. Their food contains no additives or preservatives, making it one of the only places the family, and even their coworkers, will purchase food from. Italian novelties also hang above the counter, and other shelves are lined with hard-to-find products, like coffee presses, that you may not find at a local supermarket.

Although the business model has changed a bit, as the sisters make more premade foods for those who are too busy to make dishes themselves, the sisters have learned to adapt to the changing culture.

“We were used to people that cooked,” Marie D’Elia said. “They came in and bought the raw supplies and they cooked it. Now, they come in and they want already fried chicken or premade meatballs, croquettes and rice balls. But the girls have brought in new ideas.”

For both sisters, the decision to work at the store after graduating college was an easy one, and said they’re lucky they have the opportunity to work together.

“I tried it,” Prince said. “I worked in a doctor’s office, and then I thought, why work for someone else when you can work for family?”

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