Marianne, left, and Justin Bakewicz, second from left, along with Anna Montauredes, right, are finally owners of the Bakewicz Farms in Wading River after years of work. Photo from Justin Bakewicz
A local family farm is staying pastoral and in the family.
The Bakewicz family announced the purchase of their small 11-acre farm on Route 25A in Wading River Dec. 15. For more than three years, Justin Bakewicz and his mother Marianne have cultivated vegetables as well as a big following among North Shore locals. Justin said they closed on the property Monday, Dec. 14.
“Everybody’s superexcited,” he added. “I’m just stoked.”
The 26-year-old farmer has been working the land for the last few years. The property, that borders the thin two-lane stretch of Route 25A in Wading River is surrounded by residential homes. Over the last few years, the Bakewicz family has gained renown for their kid-focused activities, from corn mazes full of cutout pop culture characters to barrel train and farm animals. Many of those animals, including two calves, Woody and Buzz, were rescued and brought to Long Island by Strong Island Rescue’s Frankie Floridia after they were slated to be killed at a farm upstate.
Rescuing animals is also how he met his then-girlfriend and now-fiancée Anna Montauredes, a fellow agriculturally minded person from Smithtown. She helps Justin with the hard work of keeping the farm running.
In early 2019, the owners of the property, Rocky Point-based Manzi Homes East construction company, announced there were proposals from TradeWind Energy to build solar batteries on the property. Previously the owners had put in proposals to the Town of Brookhaven to build a new residential section on that land.
The Wading River Civic Association pulled their support for that energy project, and Justin Bakewicz said the proposal did not get far with the town.
Rocky Point-based attorney Steven Losquadro, who represents the Manzi family, said that his client is “very pleased with the result and specifically made great concessions to allow this to happen,” adding that the developers had other offers with much bigger dollar signs.
“They decided to forego many other more significant offers and also decided to forego the money they would earn from building homes on the parcel in order to keep this as a farm for the community,” Losquadro said. The Manzis are “from the area, and they have lived here forever. They wanted it to stay a farm, so it’s a great result for everyone, and most importantly the community’s happy.”
Bakewicz said they are selling the development rights off the property so it can be served as a farm from now onward, though they are keeping 1 acre in the back available for some future development. That solar battery project was originally pitched as just two solar batteries along the north side of the property, leaving the rest as a farm. He said newer proposals showed such a project would effectively have left only the farming family with their parking lot and playground.
Bakewicz is now fully committed to being in that community, even potentially buying a home next door to the farm. He said he is looking forward to the next few years, where he has big plans. He is working on acquiring a liquor license to put a bar inside a corn silo. He also plans to expand the playground area and potentially build a horse barn, adding that he’s talking with some in the community who have kids with autism to allow them to ride horses.
“We’re just telling people to support the local farms,” he said. “Like, it’s not just for me, but it’s down the road. People are going to the grocery store [and you watch] them load up with all this garbage produce picked weeks ago.” From a local farm, he said, “for just a few cents more, you know where it came from.”
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
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The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The PJ Lobster House in Port Jefferson has a new location and a new look after a few months of furious work. Photo by Julianne Mosher
It was an intense few months of renovation, but PJ Lobster House has a new home Down Port.
Formerly located on the corner of Main Street and North Country Road in Upper Port, owner James Luciano had to move when The Gitto Group purchased the property for a planned apartment complex.
The new space, located at 134 Main St., in the former Ocean 88 restaurant location, needed to be completely redone, Luciano said. But the outcome is a good one.
“It feels more like a restaurant now,” he said.
Luciano has owned PJ Lobster House for 20 years, after taking over the space from its original owner.
And he wanted to homage to him in the new location, according to local artist Linda Alfin. She, alongside fellow Port Jeff artist Jennifer Hannaford, were asked to paint a large mural inside the seating area.
Luciano “asked me to paint a specific type of fishing boat the old owner used,” Alfin said.
The detail on the scene is impeccable. Hannaford, known for her water imagery, detailed the waves where the boat floats.
“We painted the numbers on the boat to symbolize when the restaurant first opened,” Hannaford said.
Both artists were thrilled to help decorate the new space.
“We’re not just local artists, we’re neighbors,” Hannaford said. “We’re so grateful to be a part of it. It’s nice when people in the village see and care about local art.”
Alfin agreed. “We both live in this town, so to help out in any way we can is great,” she said.
But the painting is just part of the renovation. Luciano said they had to gut the space, but in doing so added a bar — something they didn’t have at the former spot — and moved the beloved fish market to the front of the restaurant, detached from the dining areas.
Overall, the restaurant can hold more than 50 more customers than the old location did, going from 90 people to about 140.
“The kitchen is doubled in size,” Luciano added. “Because of the pandemic, we were getting hit with a lot of takeout orders, so it will better equip us for that.”
The new PJ Lobster House is open every day from 12 until 9 p.m.
The Suffolk Plaza shopping center that once housed a Waldbaum’s in South Setauket sits half empty, a far cry from where it was just a decade ago. Photo by Kyle Barr
The Town of Brookhaven has proposed a new zoning that officials said could revitalize vacant or underutilized shopping centers or other structures throughout the town.
At their Dec. 3 meeting, the town voted unanimously to adopt a new floating zoning code called Commercial Redevelopment District, which would allow developers to apply for permission to redevelop aging property into a combination of retail and apartment space.
The old section of the Mt. Sinai Shopping Center that housed the King Kullen has sat empty for months, and is just one of several empty former big box stores on the North Shore. Photo by Kyle Barr
“What we’re looking to do is to stimulate the revitalization of abandoned vacant and underutilized commercial shopping centers, bowling alleys and health clubs,” said town Planning Commissioner Beth Reilly.
She added that this new zoning will “encourage flexibility in sight and architectural design, encourage redevelopment that blends residential, commercial, cultural and institutional uses, and encourage redevelopment that’s walkable, affordable, accessible and distinctive in the town.”
Site requirements would be a 5-acre minimum for such commercial centers and sites that have been previously used but then demolished. It permits uses for all zonings except such things as heavy industrial and auto uses. There would be no setbacks for nonresidential uses, but a 25-foot minimum setback for residential use and 50-foot maximum height.
The special zoning is meant to be kept free of big-box stores and is restricted to anything less than 40,000 square feet of space for commercial properties. Also, the zoning incentivizes certain kinds of development through allowing for increases in density, such as being near the Long Island Rail Road or if a business owneruses green technology.
Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) restated that Long Island does not need new development “as much as we need to develop what we have that has fallen into disrepair.”
The proposal did receive a letter of support from the Port Jefferson Station hub study committee. President of the PJS/Terryville Chamber of Commerce, Jennifer Dzvonar, said she was in support, and that she thinks it will create downtown-type areas in places that might not have that sort of downtown already.
“It will encourage commercial property owners to update and revitalize their establishments, which will entice additional local businesses … instead of leaving their locations vacant to become blighted,” she said.
Mitch Pally, a Stony Brook resident and CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, said the new zoning should benefit developers.
“Long Islanders no longer have large tracts of land,” he said. “We must now redevelop — reuse what we already used, whether it’s been a good way or a bad way. The ability to know from the code what you can do, and what you’re going to be able to get, allows for better financing opportunities.”
The Town Board left the issue open for comment until Dec. 17. The Three Village Civic Association sent the town a letter Dec. 12 signed by the civic’s land use chair, Herb Mones, with some critiques of the proposed law, saying the language of what was considered vacant or underutilized was unclear, and that the CRD will incentivize some property owners to neglect their structures to get access to the new “generous terms afforded by the new zoning.”
“We must now redevelop — reuse what we already used, whether it’s been a good way or a bad way.”
— Mitch Pally
The letter also criticized the height allowance under the code, calling it “too high for most hamlets” in the town. The letter also shared the civic’s anxieties of increased density.
“Considering that there were only two speakers at the public hearing on Dec 3, both representing commercial interests, and no community leaders or members of the civic community participating on such an important proposal, we believe that this new zoning legislation to create a new zoning code for commercial property in the Town of Brookhaven would benefit from more input of Brookhaven’s civic community,” Mones wrote in his letter.
The change also repeals the town’s previous Blight to Light code. That code was passed in 2010 under previous Supervisor Mark Lesko (D), which in a similar vein to the current code was designed to remediate blighted properties by incentivizing development through a scoring system. Based on how a developer scored, they could receive incentives such as building permit refunds and an expedited review process.
Officials said that system had issues, and that the code had only been used twice, once in a Coram redevelopment project, and again with Jefferson Meadows, a project designed for Port Jefferson Station that was never built. That planned 96-apartment building met opposition from residents almost a decade ago. The Port Times Record reported at the time that residents disapproved of Blight to Light’s self-scoring system and that such projects did not conform to the Port Jefferson Station hamlet study.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station). “Port Jeff Station has a number of abandoned vacant and underutilized properties, and the Blight to Light code was not necessarily addressing that, so we’re hoping that this code can now create a different mechanism to address these types of properties.”
Unlike Blight to Light, there is not a special permit, but applicants would have to come to the Town Board to seek approval. There is also a time limit on these approvals, and they are taken away if the developer does not make good on trying to build.
“This puts the power in the Town Board level,” Reilly said.
The town is holding its next meeting Dec. 17 where a follow-up public hearing is scheduled.
Chamber President Jennifer Dzvonar, left, and Town Councilwoman Valerie Cartright, right, stand alongside Suffolk Legislator Kara Hahn and family. Photo by Kyle Barr
By Joan Nickeson
I am shining the local spotlight on Bass Electric and more importantly, its President and CEO, Jennifer Dzvonar. The hardest working community activist in Port Jefferson Station is the person we know as the can-do president of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce. Under Jennifer’s guidance the PJS/T Chamber represents the businesses in our community. Bass Electric puts in an inordinate amount of time and treasure maintaining the antique train car at the Train Car Park. Last year the plumbing pipes froze and Jennifer’s crew was there on the double. Additionally, the door locks, the electric needs, the critter removal and ongoing incidentals are all reviewed, repaired or replaced by Bass Electric. The Train Car would not be in as good condition as it is, were it not for Jennifer.
She is a dynamo. We chatted over a hard cider recently at Po Boy Brewery in Port Jefferson Station. Jennifer does so much but she is humble. She is an activist of sorts, constantly advocating on behalf of not only the chamber members, but for families, students and job seekers in our district. She devises virtual and social gatherings connecting folks to business, and putting people in touch with each other. From Family Fun Days, to Summer Concerts, BMX demonstrations, school aged dance troops, musicians, and singers, to menorah and tree lighting gatherings at the Train Car Park, to outreach through her work on the Town Quality of Life Task force, trying to get help for the homeless, Jen doesn’t quit.
Sincerity, a strong work ethic and patience. These tools enable her to motivate all strata of our social and political networks to successfully promote main street, side street, and home-based businesses. This extends to chamber of commerce support of Port Jefferson Station’s exceptional nonprofits like Sensory Solutions and The Social Brain and scouts. She is eloquent, she is woke and works day in and day out to benefit others.
Who is the leader of Suffolk County Girl Scout Troop #3067. That’s Jennifer. She is also a member of our school district PTA; she served as secretary and often chaired the committee for Mother’s Day Plant Sales and Family Fun Nights. If you’ve ever “chaired” a PTA committee, suffice to say is usually a committee of one.
Have you heard of ‘LeTip’ business network support organization? Jennifer serves as president of the LeTip Suffolk North Shore chapter. She is a member of Decision Women and the Rotary. These are business and philanthropic organizations where she has served on various fundraising, food collection and holiday gift programs.
In her capacity on board of the Brookhaven Town Business Recovery Task Force, she advocated for restaurant COVID relief, encouraging the use of square footage to allow for increased customer capacity. She also supported extending outdoor dining permits. And she is quick to give thanks and show her appreciation.
The Train Car would not be in as good condition as it is, were it not for Jennifer. Contact for Bass Electric is 631-807-4438.
“It is important to have an independent perspective and do everything you can to remain fair,” Jen said while we were discussing the December Drive Through Letter to Santa event, and the Harvest Basket fundraiser, which will allow the chamber to add dozens of daffodil bulbs to the Train Car Park. I could easily go on about Jennifer Dzvonar, but I’ll leave it here with a heartfelt, Thank You.
Joan Nickeson is an active member of the PJS/Terryville community and community liaison to the PJS/T Chamber of Commerce.
Fans of White Castle’s iconic Original Sliders have a cause for celebration as the long-awaited renovation of the hamburger restaurant in Centereach is complete. Brookhaven Town Councilmen Kevin LaValle and Neil Foley attended the grand reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony at the 2201 Middle Country Road eatery on Dec. 3.
“White Castle has been a staple in Centereach and has continued to give back to the community for nearly 40 years. Congratulations and best of luck on your reopening,” said Councilman LaValle before presenting the store manager with a Certificate of Congratulations.
The Ohio-based company has more than 370 restaurants in 13 states. Like most of the chain’s other restaurants, the Centereach location offers a drive thru and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, satisfying the crave of White Castle fans morning, noon and night. While the restaurant does not deliver, they work with delivery partners Uber, Door Dash, Grub hub.
For more information, call 631-467-3147 or visit www.whitecastle.com.
Northwell Health President and CEO Michael J. Dowling, who marshalled tens of thousands of his workforce this spring to battle the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surge in the New York metropolitan area, has been named to Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare,” ranking second overall.
This year’s top spot has been reserved for the frontline worker – doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, environmental service workers and administrators – who put their lives at risk daily to care for COVID-19 patients.
While Northwell Health is combatting the second surge of COVID-19, Mr. Dowling’s innovation, leadership and strong stance on social issues such as gun violence as a public health crisis as well as immigration and the opioid epidemic, have also contributed to him earning a place on Modern Healthcare’s prestigious list for the 14th consecutive year. The list includes the nation’s most prominent health care CEOs, elected officials and government administrators.
“This year has shown us how vulnerable we are to the various pandemics facing health care,” Mr. Dowling said. “COVID-19 devastated us. Gun violence continues to cripple us. And there are numerous other issues that are keeping our communities from thriving. It is our responsibility to partner with them to finally move the needle in the right direction.”
To date, across Northwell’s network, the health system has treated 101,000 COVID-19 patients, including 16,000 who were hospitalized, more than any other hospital system in the country.
Mr. Dowling wrote about the lessons Northwell learned, as well as a prescription to avoid the spread of future viral illnesses in his latest book, “Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis.” His vision and crisis management expertise helped manage the surge, establish one of the nation’s most state-of-the-art testing centers at Northwell Health Labs, innovate new ways to alleviate supply shortages and utilize the entire integrated health system to improve patient care..
During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Dowling has developed Northwell Health into New York State’s largest health system with 23 hospitals, approximately 800 ambulatory and physician practices, and $13.5 billion in annual revenue. His ability to grow the health system into a vast clinical, academic and research enterprise builds on a legacy of innovation dating back to his 12 years of public service overseeing health, education and human services for former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Health care leaders ranked among the top 10 in Modern Healthcare’s 2020 list were Marc Harrison, MD, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare (third) and Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (ninth).
Village Chabad Center for Jewish Learning of Stony Brook was awarded a $25,000 check from Investors Bank in Setauket on Nov. 5 for the organization’s new preschool playground. “This project has been proudly supported by a grant from Investors Foundation,” said Hope Kinney, Branch Manager of Investor’s Bank, pictured in center with Village Chabad co-directors Rabbi Chaim and Rivkie Grossbaum.
If we had to pick one word for 2020 it might be pivot. We’ve all been pivoting our lives to accommodate changes due to a global pandemic. Perhaps no one has pivoted more than small business owners and entrepreneurs, especially local micro entrepreneurs who rely on sales from weekend markets throughout the holiday season.
The annual Women’s EXPO, an initiative of the Middle Country Library Foundation and Miller Business Center, has also pivoted and will be held virtually this year on Dec. 10.
“The mission of the Library’s Miller Business Center has always been to promote economic development on Long Island and we felt that more than ever, we needed to support Long Island’s women entrepreneurs,” said Sophia Serlis-McPhillips, Director of the library. “With support from Bank of America and our other sponsors, we are able to offer workshops that would help provide the necessary tools to succeed in this virtual marketplace,” she said. The programs, focusing on social media, selling online, marketing, and photography, helped entrepreneurs with the online environment.
“Bank of America is committed to supporting economic mobility for those within the communities we serve,” said Bob Isaksen, Long Island market president for Bank of America. “Women entrepreneurs play an important role in driving economic growth here on Long Island, and this year more than ever, it is important to support and advance their businesses. We’re grateful to have a strong, long standing partnership with the Middle Country Library Foundation for this event and encourage everyone who is able to virtually shop the EXPO this holiday season.”
Here are just a few of the women you will “meet” at this year’s virtual event:
Kelly Wong: Lai Life Products
Kellly Wong of Lai Life Products
After seeing how hard it was for some people to kneel on their thin yoga mats, Kelly Wong created a high quality knee pad to alleviate pressure on knees, wrists, or tailbone. She never expected that her passion project, Lai Life, would be so successful. Feedback from those customers showed Wong that the implications for her product reached far beyond the yoga studio. Now she markets the pad with its many other uses including for gardening and game day.
With in-person events being canceled, Kelly turned to her ecommerce site.Targeted online ads and a move towards exercising at home has helped and Kelly has even sold out a few times. The move to more online sales has forced her to learn a lot more but overall it has helped with the business. Interestingly, she’s been developing more relationships with her customers in this new virtual world. This year will be Kelly’s first as an exhibitor at the EXPO and she is “very excited to join this elite group of small businesses.”
Lori Rosenberg: Red Gems
Lori Rosenberg of Red Gems
Primarily a pop-up shop, Lori Rosenberg’s Red Gems, was not prepared for all the event cancellations. “I have always told my children to play to their strengths, one of my strengths is building a strong rapport and trust with my customers,” said Lori.
This rapport has brought her many repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals who reach out to purchase the jewelry, rain ponchos, and other accessories she sells. But not seeing new and loyal customers at events has been a challenge. While Lori knows she has to build her online shopping presence, she is also the first to admit that tech does not come easily to her.
Like most of us, she’s had to learn a lot of new skills in 2020. Lori is looking forward to learning what she needs to create a virtual booth for the EXPO. “I signed up for the virtual EXPO because I was honored to have been an exhibitor for the last two years and from start to finish it was a true pleasure as well as profitable. The staff could not have been more professional, supportive or accommodating and it was inspiring to be in the company of other Long Island entrepreneurs.”
Tamar Perry: Creative Treasures
Tamar Perry of Creative Treasures
Tamar Perry has been creating since her first art class at age 12. Her hobby turned into a side business in 2011, when she began making paper jewelry and selling at local shows.
This year has been a challenge — the pandemic caused her employer to close its New York office — but Tamar is an optimist and saw an opportunity to invest in her own company, Creative Treasures which focuses on vintage, romantic, steampunk and old country style paper crafting and mixed media art.
While her main focus is creating scrapbooking albums and mixed media art, she has partnered with Plasterkraze in Selden to offer make-and-take events and online classes.
As a first time exhibitor, Tamar is looking forward to using the virtual EXPO to interact with the local community and introduce them to her art. “The virtual EXPO gives me the ability to invite you to my studio, share my techniques and show you hands on how I make these crafts.”
Dana Porciello: The Soothery
Dana Porciello of The Soothery
Like many other small businesses without a storefront, Dana Porciello, of The Soothery, has been seeking ways to get in front of customers. In these times especially, finding markets for her handmade soaps, lotion bars, lip balms, and face masks has been a big challenge, but one Dana knew she wanted to take on. She’s been working on her website – thesoothery.com – to get her business in front of a wider audience. Dana has also joined any safe, in-person markets. “I met amazing people and customers who wanted to support local makers which was inspiring and made me love what I do even more.” She has learned a lot about her business and sees this year overall as a tremendous learning experience.
Dana’s excited about the opportunities a virtual EXPO brings. “I love the Women’s EXPO because every woman here started with an idea and made it a reality. I find this so powerful and love to be around that energy. The library and its community does an amazing job supporting the EXPO and women in business and I love being a part of it.”
Support local businesses and finish your holiday shopping at the 20th annual (and first VIRTUAL) Women’s EXPO on Thursday, December 10, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at www.womensEXPOli.org. Virtual attendees will be entered to win one of many door prizes. Computers for browsing will be available at the Middle Country Public Library, 101 Eastwood Blvd, Centereach on the day of the event. For more information, please call 631-585-9393, ext. 296.
Broadway in Rocky Point is just one small main street on Long Island hoping for customers this holiday season. Photo by Kyle Barr
It was a fall shopping season like no other.
One doesn’t have to think too far back to remember the crowds you could practically surf off of during the annual season of Black Friday sales. Not so much this year, as more people stayed home to avoid potentially catching or spreading COVID-19.
Online sales, however, have jumped tremendously. Amazon’s Prime Day started early in October, and Forbes has reported that original projections for the weekend before Cyber Monday indicated increases of online purchases compared to 2019 from 36 to 50%. Amazon has already said this year’s holiday shopping season has been the biggest in its history, contending that medium to small businesses that sell on Amazon have seen record numbers.
Meanwhile, as much as small brick-and-mortar businesses have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic, we will still have to wait and see how well they did on Small Business Saturday, a shopping holiday promoted by American Express.
Experts, from as close as the Small Business Development Center at Stony Brook University have expressed fear for these small shops, with expectations that close to half of businesses like restaurants could be closed by 2021.
Alignable, a Boston-based online business referral network, reported Dec. 1 based on a poll of 9,204 small business owners that 48% fear they will not earn enough revenue this month to keep their businesses afloat.
Main streets all over Long Island have experienced their share of woe, and while some retail owners say times remain tough, others expressed their thanks to customers who went out of their way to patronize their local mom-and-pop.
Feasts for Beasts owner Alan Ghidaleson. Photo by Kyle Barr
Feasts For Beasts
45 Route 25A, Mount Sinai
The pet store and groomer in the small outlet along Route 25A in Mount Sinai normally does not do too much for the Black Friday weekend and doesn’t have many extra sales on top of what they already do. Owner Alan Ghidaleson said things on Small Business Saturday were a bit slow.
“For brick-and-mortars, this is a tough time,” Ghidaleson said. As for the pandemic: “We’re surviving it. I’m not saying it’s easy, but we get by.”
The owner said sales start to lag after Thanksgiving, as they have for the past five years or so. However, he said his business will survive the year, and hopes for better next year.
Tricia and Stan Niegocki of Niegocki Farms. Photo by Kyle Barr
Niegocki Farms
604 Mount Sinai-Coram Road, Mount Sinai
As the last farm in Mount Sinai, the family owned Niegocki located at the southern corner of Heritage Park has a lot riding on its shoulders as the last holdout of the area’s agricultural charm.
It’s why co-owner Tricia Niegocki said they have been able to survive the past few months, because of the customers and locals who know and support them. For Thanksgiving, the farm sold turkeys and eggs, though on the whole more people were looking for smaller birds. The farm opened up for tree sales after Thanksgiving, and since then sales have been good.
“We have a lot of locals that love to shop local and support local,” Niegocki said. “Since we’re the last farm here in Mount Sinai, we’ve actually been blessed to have a good past couple of days.”
She said that because Christmas trees do not have a very large margin, they did not do any sales for Small Business Saturday. Still, things on the farm do not change very much, and while other businesses were forced to close early in the pandemic, Niegocki was considered essential. She said they will be able to maintain over the winter, adding they plan to use their space to host other small shops as a pop-up mall of sorts. They have already hosted two such events over the past year.
“Most of our customers are friends, people who have become friends over the years,” the farmer said. “We are very blessed we have animals that provide us meat and eggs, so that demand will always be there.”
Cat Rosenboom, owner of Rose & Boom in Mount Sinai. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Rose & Boom Boutique
176 N. Country Road #3, Mount Sinai
Cat Rosenboom, owner of Rose & Boom in Mount Sinai and St. James, said that supporting local business is more important than ever.
“I always say to shop small,” she said. “But it’s even more true this year.”
Rosenboom, who has owned the Mount Sinai location for four years this month, opened her second store in St. James nearly six months before the stay-at-home shutdown.
“We had just opened up and then had to close the door once we started to get our name out there,” she said.
But despite the coronavirus crisis, she said people were shopping and supporting her stores throughout the whole pandemic, by purchasing things online through her social media accounts and delivering them personally to customers close by.
“You get a personal experience here that you won’t get at a big box store,” she said. “We take pride in getting to know our customers and their families.”
She also will host local retailer pop-ups to support fellow small business owners.
“We like to help local retailers and get the word out about their business,” she said.
Leading up to Black Friday, the shops did daily surprise sales every day in hopes to bring people in – and it worked. “We allowed 10 people in the stores at a time, and they were busy the entire day,” she said.
— Julianne Mosher
Merrily Couture in Mount Sinai. Photo from Google Maps
Merrily Couture
340 Route 25A, Mount Sinai
Manager of the Mount Sinai formal wear shop, Krystle Weber Hughes, said times have been tough since the start of the pandemic, as so much of their business depends on formal occasions. Their stellar event, school prom, was largely canceled by every school district in the local area. They were closed during the pandemic’s height, and all their shipments were delayed. To this day they are receiving items they ordered all the way back in January.
The store doesn’t have too many discounts around the time of Black Friday, but Weber Hughes said COVID has meant they have had to clean dressing rooms every time one is used, and they have to manage their space to make sure people are socially distanced.
She said they have received some returning customers, while others are somewhat hesitant to buy anything too early before an event that may well be canceled.
“Everything really got turned upside down because of COVID,” she said. “I think people are so afraid of events being cancelled, they’re waiting until the last minute to purchase a dress.”
Weber Hughes said they are waiting for January to see how things are, as that is when their prom season starts. Once that comes around, she said they will likely know how good the year will be.
Marion Bernholz, center, the owner of The Gift Corner. Photo by Kyle Barr
The Gift Corner
157 N. Country Road, Mount Sinai
Marion Bernholz, owner of The Gift Corner in Mount Sinai, has seen the impact a loyal customer base can have on a small shop for getting through a tough time.
TBR News Media has talked to Bernholz every Small Business Saturday for the past three years, and each time she has said it’s the customers who look at her as a friend and neighbor who help her survive in a time of booming online retail.
“We have been doing OK,” Bernholz said. “People have come up to me in Stop & Shop and asked if I worked at the store. They asked me, ‘Are you doing OK?’”
But it seems word of mouth has worked for her. She said they have been receiving a host of new customers, adding that she estimates they had been ringing up 20 new customers a day from people coming to the North Shore during the summer and fall, many of whom were not able to take their usual vacations.
Tristan Whitworth, the owner of Game On in Miller Place and Smithtown
Game On
465 Route 25A, Miller Place
Tristan Whitworth, the owner of Game On, a used and refurbished video game and console retailer with locations in Miller Place and Smithtown, said he has been doing 200% to 300% better than last year, both in terms of sales and customers, which is something that to him was concerning considering just how hard it has been for so many other businesses out there.
When businesses were forced to close, Whitworth and his business partner each came to the separate stores on the North Shore and sold some of their product online, which kept things moving.
“We’re very blessed,” he said. “We were profitable during that phase, too, while other stores couldn’t. For example, you couldn’t do anything for a nail salon. … It’s a weird feeling to have so many places struggle and then us flourish. We didn’t do anything different, we just got lucky.”
Whitworth hosted two $1,500 giveaways to two local businesses this year.
While Whitworth did a host of sales during last year’s Small Business Saturday, this year he tried to make it more subdued to make sure there weren’t too many people crowded close together in his store. Still, there was a steady stream of people coming into the store all day Saturday.
“We’re lucky, we sell things people really, really want right now during a pandemic when they stay home, so we really didn’t push it this year,” he said. “I didn’t want people thinking they need to come support us, because there are a lot of stores that are really actually struggling.”
Jim Donnelly, the owner of Grand Slam Tennis in Miller Place. and Commack. Photo by Kyle Barr
Grand Slam Tennis
816 Route 25A, Miller Place
Jim Donnelly, the owner of Grand Slam Tennis in Miller Place, with his main store in Commack, said his prospects for year to year are much different as a specialty shop. Small Business Saturday normally has no effect on him.
“People that enjoy specialty stores, and have all the information, they constantly come to us, we don’t have to advertise or anything,” Donnelly said. “They’re our advertisement.”
The biggest problem for him and his shop was when different municipalities closed tennis courts all over Long Island, despite the argument that tennis is one of the safer sports one could play during a pandemic, as by necessity players are well distanced. The tennis store owner said he and other tennis advocates got together to put a paper on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) desk arguing for tennis to be permitted, and was shortly thereafter allowed along with sports like golf.
“We had a good summer — I hate to brag — I’m just glad I was in the right business for a pandemic, because I would hate to be the rest of these guys,” he said.
Jim and Sue Fiora, along with Misty the dog. Photo by Kyle Barr
Miller Place Bait and Tackle
834 Route 25A, Miller Place
The fishing business had some interesting ups and downs this year, according to Miller Place Bait and Tackle owners Jim and Sue Flora. Their store had to close along with many others for several months, but once they opened they found many people who had never tried fishing before were buying rods and bait. It was one of the few activities still available to people during the height of COVID.
“It’s been a good season for us because everybody went fishing,” Sue Flora said. “So many people come in saying, ‘I want to learn to fish.’ It was very good for us. They supported us through it.”
She said customers were coming into the shop on Saturday to buy products or even gift cards, specifically to support them.
“We have a nice bunch of loyal customers — we’re really fortunate,” she said.
Jim Flora said they were doing slightly better than last year, and should be in a relatively safe place going into next year.
Flowers on Broadway owner Stephanie Navas. Photo by Kyle Barr
Flowers on Broadway
43 Broadway, Rocky Point
April was supposed to be Rocky Point flower shop Flowers on Broadway’s 20-year anniversary celebration. Owner Stephanie Navas said they are still somewhat struggling as so many weddings are still on hold while big events, which usually means big sales for florists, are much more subdued.
They have had more to do with funeral work but, despite the morbid implication, even those sales are down compared to previous years, as more funerals have become much smaller events.
“Walk-in traffic isn’t anything like it used to be,” Navas said. “We are doing more home deliveries then we did in the past, but it doesn’t quite balance out.”
While she expected to see some more traffic for Thanksgiving, especially considering more people weren’t traveling, they didn’t see too big a jump in sales. Black Friday, on the other hand, is the “absolute worst” day to be open. This year she said they made little to nothing on the biggest shopping holiday of the year. Saturday did get slightly better, and now Flowers on Broadway is trying to start its big Christmas push.
Still, she said she’s not ready to throw in
the towel.
“My hope is just to do as well as last year,” she said. “I’m not hoping for an increase, I’m just looking to maintain at this point.”
Fountaingate Gardens Founders Club members (from left) Bonnie Soman and Michele Leone were also on hand to cheer the progress, along with Brodsky, Supervisor Lupinacci, Wolf, Fountaingate Gardens Director of Sales Michele Biggart, and Almer. Photo from Gurwin
Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (second from left) joined (from left) Fountaingate Gardens Board Chairman Cary Wolf, Gurwin Healthcare System Boad Chairman Bert E. Brodsky, and Gurwin Healthcare System President and CEO Stuart B. Almer to review features of the soon‐to‐be‐built Life Plan Community. Photo from Gurwin
The Gurwin Healthcare System has begun site clearing work for the construction of its new Independent Living Community, Fountaingate Gardens. Several key stakeholders were on hand recently to commemorate the first step toward groundbreaking for the 129-luxury apartment independent living complex, creating only the fourth Life Plan Community on Long Island.
“We are thrilled to be taking this milestone step, as we move closer to groundbreaking within the next couple of months,” said Stuart B. Almer, Gurwin Healthcare System President and CEO. Joined by members of the Gurwin board, Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, and Fountaingate Gardens Founders Club members, Almer spoke about the progress toward construction, and the community’s impact on Long Island seniors.
“Fountaingate Gardens will provide an amenity-rich, resort-fashioned lifestyle with a wide array of services on one campus, enabling seniors to remain on Long Island, close to the things and people they love,” he said. “Offering an active lifestyle and both financial and healthcare security for the future, the community will be the final piece to Gurwin’s full continuum of care. We are grateful for the support of Supervisor Lupinacci and the Town of Huntington for this project which is vital to enabling our area’s seniors age in place.”
“I’m so excited to see my future home coming to fruition!” said Bonnie Soman, a Founders Club member, who stopped by to see the progress. Accompanied by future neighbor Michelle Leone and wearing Fountaingate Gardens hardhats, the two Founders watched as heavy equipment moved dirt and trees to prepare for the community’s groundbreaking.
Located on Gurwin’s 34-acre Commack campus, Fountaingate Gardens will have a charming, village-like ambience offering a dynamic lifestyle for active adults. Dining venues, a fitness center, an indoor salt water pool, social gathering areas, and numerous other amenities will be conveniently located just a few steps from each residence.
Fountaingate Gardens will offer active adults the freedom and lifestyle of a Life Plan Community while ensuring access to the acclaimed Gurwin continuum of care should health needs change in the future. The project is already almost 65% sold, with some of the most popular floor plans nearly or completely unavailable.
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