The last grocer at 115 South Country Road was known for custom meats, gourmet deli items and imported cheeses. When the space reopened as Fine Fare on Friday, Oct. 2, those specialties were no longer in that building. Since May, they have been sold a few doors up the street at 139 South Country Road.
That detail explains how food shopping in Bellport Village works now. The supermarket is back, and it is a different kind of store. The cheese counter, the butcher case and the fresh bread are spread across a few storefronts on the same side of the street. A full shopping trip in the village now means stopping at more than one counter.
Three years and one empty storefront
The building has held a grocery store for most of its life. According to Newsday's May 2026 report, it was built for a Bohack supermarket in the 1960s and later housed Gristede's and then Cirillo's. A CVS moved in during the 1990s, and Cirillo's and CVS swapped spaces in 2002. Fine Fare co-owner William Lukeman told Newsday that Cirillo's owner sold the grocery around 2022 and that it closed the following year.
The space then sat empty for years. The property belongs to Staller Associates, an Islandia real estate company. Its president, Cary Staller, told Newsday the space could have been rented sooner, but community members, including Mayor Maureen Veitch, pressed him to bring a grocery store back. He said the owner wanted to meet residents' needs. Newsday's September update says the same thing: the site stayed vacant while the community pushed for another grocer.
Lukeman shared his plans with the community in mid-January, according to the Long Island Advance. Those plans included a new Air Flo refrigeration system, which the Advance said was needed to meet New York State's environmental rules on refrigerants. The store was first supposed to open in late summer, and several smaller problems pushed that back. Lukeman told Newsday in September that the store was still waiting on State Liquor Authority approval to sell beer and wine and on federal authorization to accept SNAP benefits. A shipment of electronic pricing tags was also "stuck at the port." He promised a mid-October opening "no matter what because the community needs food." The doors opened about two weeks before that.
What Fine Fare is built to do
It is a small store. Newsday puts it at roughly 8,500 square feet, which is small by grocery-store standards. Lukeman and his two partners own five other Fine Fare stores on Long Island, in Copiague, Riverhead, Farmingville and two in Brentwood, and Bellport is the smallest of the six. Fine Fare as a brand is much larger. The Advance reports that it has opened 60 supermarkets across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania since the 1970s.
The size didn't keep the owners from spending heavily on the building. By September, Lukeman put the renovation cost at more than $3 million. That covered custom refrigeration and shelving plus new HVAC systems, electrical panels, gas lines and grease traps. Management planned to have 45 people on staff at opening.
The Advance's opening-day coverage described the store as busy and listed what's on the shelves:
- Produce: an organic produce section that one shopper called "the best produce market I've ever seen."
- Deli: a deli counter with a juice bar that serves throughout the day.
- Hot foods: mac and cheese, lasagna, crab cakes, meatloaf and baked chicken.
- Dry goods: a large Latin American section with seasonings, drinks, coffee, sauces and dried fruit from El Salvador, Mexico and Ecuador, among other countries.
- Asian foods: Chinese, Korean and Japanese sections, including a wide selection of ramen.
That list covers produce, ready-made dinners and a deep pantry. It doesn't feature the custom meats, gourmet deli items and imported cheeses that the Advance remembered from the old family-run store, which it says was family-owned for more than 30 years. Those things are still sold in the village, just a little farther down the block.
Where the old specialties went
During the three years without a supermarket, smaller shops on South Country Road started selling some of what the IGA used to carry.
Off the Wheel, 139 S. Country Rd. Jennifer and Collin Preziosi opened their cheese and charcuterie shop on May 22 in a three-level space that used to be The Storefront gallery and boutique. Jennifer told Newsday that, as residents, they knew the 2023 IGA closure had "put a major dent" in the village's food shopping options, and that "Bellport needed this." The main floor holds dozens of international cheeses, most priced from $18 to $40 a pound in Newsday's June review. Examples include 12-month Manchego, 24-month Parmesan, Taleggio, Gruyère, Stilton and Humboldt Fog. The cured meats run $18 to $35 and include prosciutto di Parma and di San Daniele.
Off the Wheel has also picked up some of the old supermarket's butcher and deli work. Upstairs is a small butcher counter with steaks, burgers, franks and Moulard duck breasts, next to specialty groceries like cultured butter, crème fraîche, Martelli pasta and olive oil. Collin makes mozzarella every morning, roasts his own prime beef and fries his own chicken cutlets for sandwiches priced at $14 to $16, on bread from Orwashers. Grab-and-go platters with three cheeses, two meats and fruit cost $17.99, and the shop also caters. Downstairs, the couple plans to use an 18-foot communal table for mozzarella- and pasta-making classes.
Copper Beech, 133 S. Country Rd. This shop sits in a 1918 building on South Country Road. It is mostly a home goods boutique selling housewares, kitchen tools, glassware and vintage clothing, with fresh bread, specialty groceries and prepared foods in the back, according to Newsday's October guide to Bellport.
Bellport Apothecary, 151 S. Country Rd. It isn't a food market, but it's the earliest-opening stop on this stretch. It serves lattes and drinks like lavender lemonade in a storefront with 100-year-old ceilings and opens at 8 a.m. every day.
How the stops fit together
All four businesses are on the same side of South Country Road, with addresses running from 115 to 151. That makes it easy to walk between them in one trip. Their hours vary, though, so it helps to know them before you go.
| Stop | Address | Best for | Hours as reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Fare Bellport | 115 S. Country Rd. | Produce, hot foods, deli, pantry staples | Not yet published in coverage |
| Copper Beech | 133 S. Country Rd. | Fresh bread, specialty pantry, prepared foods | Daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fri. and Sat. to 6 p.m. |
| Off the Wheel | 139 S. Country Rd. | Cheese, charcuterie, butcher cuts, sandwiches | Wed. to Sun. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Bellport Apothecary | 151 S. Country Rd. | Coffee | Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
The hours shape when you can make the full round. Off the Wheel is closed Monday and Tuesday, and Newsday's guide notes that many village shops close those two days. A Bellport Apothecary staffer told the paper the town "is lively Wednesday to Sunday throughout the summer and fall." So a weekend shop can include every stop, while early in the week the supermarket and the coffee shop are the more likely options.
There's also a seasonal stop outside the village. The H.O.G. Farm Stand at 319 Beaver Dam Road in Brookhaven is listed in Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County's 2026 farmers market directory. It's open Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, with a season running May 10 to December 13. That gives local produce about two more months this year.
The Advance noted the store's 58 five-star Google reviews at opening. Beer and wine sales and SNAP acceptance were still waiting on approvals in September, and none of the coverage so far has confirmed either one. Anyone who plans to rely on either should check with the store at 115 South Country Road.
A store opening on South Country Road shows how a village block affects daily routines, and those routines are a big part of deciding where to live. If you're thinking about how a home near Bellport's shops would fit your week, or what this block adds to a property you already own, Anthony Prettitore would be glad to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.
