Listen to this articleLong Island gained several new brands in 2024, as restaurant chains, food stores, entertainment venues and other retailers opened their first locations here.
One of the most anticipated openings was the Long Island debut of Bingo Wholesale. The bulk grocery concept that’s been called the “kosher Costco” opened its new 61,669-square-foot store in the Burnside Commons shopping center on Burnside Avenue in Inwood in February.
Another market new to Long Island was Wild Fork Foods, a national meat and seafood market chain, that opened its first area location in West Hempstead in April. The 3,000-square-foot food market opened in the Nassau Plaza shopping center at 603 Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead, a pad site building formerly occupied by Boston Market.
The Granola Bar, a growing chain of casual eateries, opened its first Long Island restaurant in a 2,500-square-foot space in Kimco Realty’s Woodbury Commons retail complex at 8285 Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury. The Connecticut-based chain, which touts its offerings as “elevated comfort food and drink,” opened here in October.
Ford’s Garage, a national chain of casual eateries with a burger-and-beer-centric menu and a whole lot of motoring memorabilia, opened in November in a 5,100-square-foot space at 355 Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove formerly occupied by Bobby’s Burger Palace.
Another national chain, Bubbakoo’s Burritos, opened its first Long Island location at 7 East Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station. The fast-casual brand plans to soon open a second area eatery in Old Bridge Plaza at 180 West Old Country Road in Hicksville.
New York Fries, a concept that offers a variety of plain and loaded French fries, opened its first location on Long Island in January at Roosevelt Field in Garden City. The chain, which got its start as a small fry shop at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport in 1983, later opened a second Long Island location at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove.
Another new food offering at Roosevelt Field is Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, which opened its first Long Island spot in January. The brand got its start with a yellow scoop truck on the streets of New York City in 2008.
Roosevelt Field also welcomed Venchi, an internationally known chocolate and gelato maker that opened an 880-square-foot Chocogelateria at the Garden City mall in June.
Ready Coffee, a drive-thru coffee shop that offers an assortment of coffees, teas, energy drinks, shakes and smoothies, opened its first Long Island location in Baldwin. The Hudson Valley-based chain purchased nine former Dairy Barn properties in Nassau County and one in Suffolk County where it plans to expand the brand here.
Planet Tubes Totally Tubular opened a 1,200-square-foot eatery at 80 Bayville Ave. in Bayville. The Oklahoma-based chain, which offers hot dogs garnished with a variety of toppings, sandwiches, French fries, falafel, French toast and more, also plans to open a second Long Island location in the Atrium Plaza shopping center at 902 Wheeler Road in Hauppauge.
We-Desi Indian Bistro opened its first Long Island restaurant in a 2,247-square-foot space at Tanger Outlets Deer Park.
Other brands that opened their first Long Island locations last year include Golfzon Range by Leadbetter, an indoor golf training concept, which opened a 9,000-square-foot training center at 655 Merrick Ave. in Westbury. In July, A new indoor trampoline and entertainment venue called Empire Adventure Park opened in the Samanea New York mall in Westbury. The 35,000-square-foot Empire Adventure Park features 17 attractions including ninja courses, trampolines, climbing walls, laser tag, virtual reality arenas, augmented reality games, glide rail ziplining, a playground for the younger guests and more.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch opened its first store on Long Island in August, a 1,051-square-foot location in Roosevelt Field.
Tanger Outlets Riverhead welcomed a couple of brands new to Long Island. Dallas-based Arteriors, which offers a collection of premium lighting, furniture, wall décor and accessories, opened in a 5,000-square-foot space, and Wacoal, an intimate apparel brand offering a selection of bras, shape wear, underwear and lingerie, opened a 2,000-square-foot store.
Several first-time-on-Long-Island brands are open or slated to soon open at the newly constructed Belmont Park Village in Elmont. They include Thom Browne, Rene Caovilla, Aquazzura, Missoni, Palm Angels, RAINS, Orlebar Brown and Vivienne Westwood, all of which are premiering their first off-price boutiques in America.
Long Island also welcomed new cannabis dispensaries last year, including the new 5,000-square-foot Planet Nugg store at 2043 Wellwood Ave. In Farmingdale, the Long Island Cannabis Club, which opened a 4,200-square-foot dispensary at 94 East Industry Court in Deer Park, and Beleaf, which opened a location at 4462 Middle Country Road in Calverton and plans to soon open another at 262 Middle Island Road in Medford.