Best Market Closes In Westhampton Beach: Where Will You Shop?

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — Right after Thanksgiving, Westhampton Beach shoppers found themselves without a supermarket as Best Way closed its doors for up to six months to make way for a new Lidl.

The closure left residents scrambling for solutions, as Best Market was the only supermarket located in Westhampton Beach.

Now, Patch wants to know what shopping alternatives you're considering, what stores you like shopping at the most — and how you feel about Lidl opening its doors in the village.

Feel free to answer in the comments section or on Facebook, or email your responses to Lisa.Finn@patch.com for a roundup that will be posted in an upcoming story.

Supermarket closed for months as renovations begin

According to Best Market and Lidl, the Westhampton location closed on Nov. 26. Westhampton Beach Village Mayor Maria Moore said the Sunset Ave. supermarket will be closed for five to six months for interior renovations.

"We look forward to serving you with high quality and low prices soon," a sign at the location said.

The German grocery store chain purchased all of the Best Market stores on Long Island last year and most recently, the Lake Grove's location was the ninth store to open in Suffolk and Nassau.

The first Long Island locations opened in in West Babylon, Huntington, Center Moriches and Plainview in Dec. 2019, Lidl said.

The company is known for paying employees a higher wage, starting at $15 per hour, and offering medical benefits to all employees, including part-time workers.

"Lidl is a family business just like Best Market. We opened our first store in Germany in 1973 and remain a family-owned company to this day. Our simple approach has contributed to our expansion across 30 countries, including right here in the U.S. where we operate more than 100 stores along the East Coast," Lidl said on its website.

Lidl said they are committed to providing customers with low prices.

But not all Patch readers were happy with the news last week that Lidl would be coming to the village.

"Lidl does NOT fit in WHB," a reader named Ryan wrote on Patch. "No one wants to buy prepackaged foods and frozen items along with no-name off brands. Wait until the summer crowd sees this....This store cheapens the integrity of the town, especially when so much money was spent to renovate Main Street."

He added: "A very backwards move. People here want fresh foods and higher quality options. A Fairway is more apropos for the town. Oh ,well, mark my words: It will fail and close in a year's time and at least, in the meantime, the local farmsteads will gain like they did when crappy Waldbaum's finally closed," Ryan said. "The German company is spread too thin and has no idea of the area and the needs. Granted, their business model makes bank, just in lesser areas. This ain’t a Walmart town."

Jane Lenz of East Meadow wrote: "With all due respect to Lidl, I am not a fan of the store and miss our Best Market. Without Boar’s Head cold cuts that are sliced fresh to order, there is nothing Lidl has that makes me want to go there. It is nice to hear they are a good employer, and that is commendable. They just need better produce, not stored in cardboard boxes, and they need a fresh deli counter with Boar’s Head cold cuts."

A reader named Nancy from the North Fork weighed in: "This is terrible news for the Westhampton area. Best Market is an excellent food store with a wide variety of products, from the staples to the more esoteric. I visited the Lidl in Center Moriches and I hated it. Fresh produce presented in cardboard and cellophane, and very little diversity when most of the offerings are some weird off-brand product. Why is there a giant bin of hodgepodge items in the middle of the aisle like cheap dishes, plastic sandals, and screw drivers? The store just makes no sense and the checkout process is very unpleasant. Good on them for paying their employees a decent wage as that is truly commendable — but I can’t say that I will be shopping there. Back to Riverhead I go."

And, said Patricia Broidy of Westhampton Beach: "I went in the one in Center Moriches. It was a disaster. Messy and unorganized — not what you would expect in the Hamptons."