Stop & Shop will open its doors Friday in Hampton Bays

Linda Anno says she does her grocery shopping at the King Kullen supermarket in Hampton Bays for one simple reason.

“It’s the only one,” the part-time Hampton Bays resident said while loading her groceries into her car last Thursday, April 9.

Though there is also a Wild By Nature operating in Hampton Bays, that supermarket, which specializes in organic foods, is also owned by King Kullen.

But when the hamlet’s new supermarket, a Stop & Shop, opens on Friday, April 17, Ms. Anno said she will check it out—and hinted that the newcomer to the Hampton Bays grocery shopping scene might bring some competition for the established supermarkets, and that could benefit shoppers.

“They have good prices,” Ms. Anno said of Stop & Shop. “Maybe it will help King Kullen bring its prices down.”

For many years, King Kullen was the only supermarket in Hampton Bays. Then, in 2007, the chain opened a second store, a Wild By Nature, on the site of the former King Kullen after the company built a new supermarket about a mile to the east. The Wild By Nature is located just west of the new Stop & Shop, which sits on the north side of Montauk Highway, just west of the intersection with County Road 24.

In total, there will soon be three supermarkets all located within two miles of one another in Hampton Bays. Though some have speculated that it will be difficult for three supermarkets to survive in the hamlet, representatives of Stop & Shop have stated in previous interviews that they are confident that Hampton Bays will be able to support a third store. Faith Weiner, the director of public affairs for Stop & Shop, could not be reached this week.

Representatives of King Kullen also did not return calls seeking comment.

The new Stop & Shop will feature a full-service pharmacy as well as bakery, seafood, deli and floral departments. The new supermarket, which is opening about a month ahead of schedule, will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held today, Thursday, April 16, at 5 p.m. Starting at that time, local shoppers will also be able to take a sneak peek at the fully stocked store and enjoy refreshments, Stop & Shop officials said.

Friday’s opening will mark the end of a supermarket saga that began more than six years ago when Hampton Bays Connections, a group of doctors who owned the property on which the Stop & Shop now sits, filed suit against Southampton Town. The civil lawsuit charged that town planners discriminated against the group when they denied the firm’s request to construct a medical center on a nearby site as retribution for building a McDonald’s on the same property that the new Stop & Shop is now located.

David Armanetti, the director of real estate development for the Richmond Company, the Massachusetts development firm behind the new supermarket, and Ray Schwarz, the customer service manager for the new Stop & Shop, were on hand to answer questions about the new supermarket during the April 6 meeting of the Hampton Bays Beautification Association.

Mr. Schwarz explained to the nearly three dozen meeting attendees that the Hampton Bays store will measure about 50,000 square feet and will be slightly smaller than other Stop & Shop supermarkets in Suffolk County, in order to meet Southampton Town zoning requirements. For example, he noted that the Riverhead supermarket measures 68,000 square feet, including a 6,000-square-foot section for the chain’s Peapod service. Mr. Schwarz explained that Peapod, Stop & Shop’s online home food delivery service, will not be offered at the new Hampton Bays store, though it is currently offered at the Riverhead supermarket.

The new Hampton Bays supermarket will carry the chain’s Nature’s Promise products, Stop & Shop’s organic food brand, as well as Simply Enjoy, the company’s high-quality food line, according to Mr. Schwarz.

To help prepare for Friday’s grand opening, Stop & Shop executives had to screen hundreds of applicants before hiring 50 full-time employees and approximately 175 part-time workers to help staff the new store, Mr. Schwarz said. The chain operates more than 375 stores in seven states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine an New York, and employs nearly 60,000 people, according to the Stop & Shop website.

Locally, the chain operates a store on Route 58 in Riverhead that opened last year, and another supermarket in Shirley.

Meeting the demands of town and community representatives, Stop & Shop had to construct a building featuring architecture that fits in with the character of the community. The result: the new supermarket will feature a gray clapboard and brick facade that will be segmented in order to give the appearance of several shops instead of one super-sized supermarket.

Additionally, Stop & Shop has allocated approximately $400,000 for the installation of landscaping, and the company has created an escrow account to cover future maintenance of the property, according to Mr. Schwarz. The Richmond Company has also agreed to set aside $20,000 for the construction of a cedar shingled bus station that will sit in front of the supermarket on Montauk Highway.

“It’s a more traditional, downtown hamlet setting,” Mr. Armanetti said of the supermarket and the surrounding property.

The new building will also adhere to Southampton Town’s Dark Skies initiative. Interior and exterior lighting will be reduced to a third of its output after the store closes for the night, according to Mr. Armanetti. He added that the 250-spot parking lot will feature full cutoff light fixtures that eliminate glare and help reduce light pollution.

Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce President Stan Glinka speculated this week that the new Stop & Shop will thrive in his hamlet, noting that the next closest supermarket is the Waldbaum’s on Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach. As a result, the three supermarkets should draw customers from neighboring East Quogue and Quogue, and perhaps even as far west as Westhampton and Westhampton Beach.

“The population has increased drastically,” Mr. Glinka said of Hampton Bays. “I’m positive there are numbers to support it.”

Other local shoppers, such as Nadine Coll of East Quogue, said they are looking forward to having more options in Hampton Bays. Ms. Coll, who was also shopping at the King Kullen in Hampton Bays last week, explained that she usually does her grocery shopping at that supermarket—though that might change, depending on the prices and offerings at the new Stop & Shop.

“It will be closer and less crowded,” Ms. Coll said of the new supermarket.