5 Things to Know About Long Island's First Stew Leonard's

Get your shopping carts ready.

Stew Leonard’s, a “food-lover’s wonderland,” will officially open the doors to its first Long Island grocery store in Farmingdale on Wednesday at 8 a.m.

The store will be located in Kimco Realty Corp’s Airport Plaza shopping center, across from the Stew Leonard’s Wines of Farmingdale store.

The new 60,000 square-foot store is known for its farm-fresh milk, “from scratch” in-store bakery, cut-to-order butcher shop and fresh seafood department.

• Stew Leonard’s is open from 8:00 a.m. to 9 p.m daily. The store is closed on Christmas Day.

But you might not know everything there is to know about this supermarket, especially considering this is Long Island’s first location.

Patch spoke to Josh Weinkranz, President of the Northeast Region for Kimco Realty, which owns and manages Airport Plaza.

Check out what Weinkranz told us about Stew Leonard’s below:

1. It’s been a long time coming.

Kimco has been working on opening a Stew Leonard’s in Farmingdale for over 10 years. The company originally had a lease on a property across the street, near Conklin and Route 110, but it didn’t work out. Finally, the Dave & Buster’s closed down and the building was an ideal spot for a supermarket. Long Island is a quintessential spot for a Stew Leonard’s, Weinkranz said, because of its demographics, population and household incomes.

2. Farmingdale is the perfect location.

Route 110 in Farmingdale, which is close to the Nassau-Suffolk border, is a good location for a regional customer draw, Weinkranz said. Plus, people can travel from the north and south shores within a reasonable amount of time.

The typical grocery store pulls traffic from within a 2-3 mile range, but grocers like Stew Leonard’s have a much further draw. “People will easily drive 15 to 20 minutes to go to the store,” Weinkranz said.

It’s also good timing considering the many supermarkets in the area that closed in 2015.

3. Parking isn’t expected to be an issue.

The parking field in front of Stew Leonard’s is ideal for a high volume grocery store, Weinkranz said. Although the supermarket is expected to drive more customer traffic to Airport Plaza, they have the parking spaces to back it up, he says.

4. Stew Leonard’s is charitable and green.

Stew Leonard’s regularly donates gift cards to various local charities. Each year, the store has donated more than $25,000 of their customers’ spare change to local charities through their Wishing Well. The Wishing Well can be found at the entrance of the Farmingdale store. Unsold baked goods are donated to local charities at the end of each day and the stores donate turkeys to needy families during their annual Turkey Brigade held every Thanksgiving.

The new Farmingdale store was also built using an efficient refrigerant and super-efficient LEDs. The store uses “green programs” through their linen company, pest control company, chemical company and labeling company. Coffee grinds are given away to customers for composting and gardening. Plus, unsaleable produce is donated to local farmers to help feed animals.

5. Expect more Stew Leonard’s locations on Long Island

“We would love to do more with Stew Leonard’s on Long Island,” said Weinkranz, who added that Stew Leonard’s is thinking of adding another location. No location is confirmed, but Kimco owns over 50 properties in Nassau, Suffolk and the Burroughs, so there are plenty of spots to choose from.