"You can come in, you can do your food shopping, you can get your diapers, you can grab your Starbucks. I think it's just like a one-stop shop." Adriana Fitzpatrick, director of the new Bridgehampton Target, said this to The East Hampton Star on the night the store first opened its registers. Target held its official grand opening on Sunday, October 11. On that same Sunday, Lidl closed its supermarket at 70 Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach. Two weeks earlier, at the far eastern end of the fork, Herb's Market in Montauk closed after 63 years.
These three changes add up to one shift. For this off-season, the South Fork's everyday shopping has moved toward Bridgehampton Commons. The western end has an empty supermarket with a new tenant but no opening date, and Montauk has no named replacement for its oldest market. Winter grocery runs and prescription pickups now point toward the middle of the fork more than they did a year ago.
What a just-under-90,000-square-foot Target fits into the old Kmart
The building at 2102 Montauk Highway has housed big-box stores for about 50 years. 27east traces the line from Woolco to Caldor to Kmart. Kmart closed for good in October 2024. That left the South Fork's only general-merchandise store empty for about two years, until Target opened to shoppers at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, a few days earlier than announced.
The size matters for winter shopping. The East Hampton Star reports the store at just under 90,000 square feet, about 50 percent smaller than other Targets opening around the country this fall. 27east rounds it to 90,000 and notes that it is smaller than a typical Long Island Target. Inside that footprint, according to the Star's account of opening night:
- A grocery section with produce, frozen foods and dried goods, in the back of the store, where Kmart also kept its groceries
- A CVS Pharmacy and a Starbucks
- Drive-up and in-store order pickup
- Same-day delivery, which the Star calls the first time South Fork customers have had that option
The CVS was originally scheduled to open in November, as Spark Hamptons noted on October 15. Target's Bridgehampton store page now lists the pharmacy at 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2 to 7 p.m., with the store itself open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. for October 22 through 28. Call ahead before counting on a first fill there.
The building also looks different from other Targets. Southampton Town required a gray exterior and gray signage, so the store does not use Target's usual red. The construction firm, EW Howell, listed an improved parking lot and a refreshed facade among the project's upgrades. The Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center was chosen as the ceremonial first shopper and received a $500 gift card.
The same Sunday, Westhampton Beach lost its supermarket
Lidl's last day on Sunset Avenue was October 11. Patch reported that the company offered affected employees jobs at other Lidl locations. 27east put the store's run at nearly five and a half years. Mayor Ralph Urban told 27east that running a supermarket is hard in a village with a busy summer and a quiet off-season. The building has changed supermarkets before. It was a Waldbaum's until 2015, reopened as Best Market in 2016, closed again in November 2020, and reopened as a Lidl the following May.
The space has a new tenant. On Thursday, October 22, Breslin Realty announced a long-term lease with Holiday Farms Supermarket for a 30,000-square-foot grocery store at 70 Sunset Avenue, Patch reported. It will be the locally owned chain's fourth Long Island store and its first in Suffolk County. The other three are in Nassau County, in Roslyn Heights, Franklin Square and Glen Head. No opening date has been announced.
That leaves a gap in the calendar. The new Target in Bridgehampton is roughly three times the size of the coming Holiday Farms, and it is open now. The full-service supermarket that Westhampton Beach has been promised has a signed lease but no date. Until it opens, the nearest new grocery option is the one in the middle of the fork. Westhampton Beach did get one new food store this year: Citarella opened there in April.
Montauk's loss is smaller in square feet and harder to replace
Herb's Market at 778 Montauk Highway was never a big store. Harold "Herb" Herbert opened it in 1963 as a grocery, deli and butcher shop, and it became known for its fried chicken, sandwiches and butcher counter. 27east reports that Joe Ferraro bought the business in 2012 from Lucille Lenahan and Gillian Mooney. The closing was announced on the store's Instagram: "After so many years of being a part of the Montauk community, our time is coming to an end at the end of September."
The East Hampton Star described Herb's as a gathering place for generations of Montauk residents, and it reported that the property was not listed for sale. The Ferraro family plans to sell the store's equipment and fixtures, and as of mid-October no replacement business had been announced.
Westhampton Beach's empty supermarket has a named successor. The Herb's storefront does not. Selling off the fixtures also makes it unlikely that a similar butcher-and-deli operation will simply move in. Montauk still has food shops. The Montauk Sun's grocers and markets directory lists M&R Deli at 728 Montauk Highway. For the big weekly shop, a pharmacy stop and household basics in one trip, the newest option this winter is at Bridgehampton Commons.
Where the evenings are moving for winter
Some restaurants are making the same shift into winter. Union Burger Bar closed its Bowden Square location on September 27 and reopened October 8 as Union at the Southampton Social Club property, 256 Elm Street. The new version adds sushi, steaks and cocktails to the burger menu. It runs trivia, bingo and comedy nights, and it seats about 300 guests indoors and out. Spark Hamptons reports that the arrangement is billed as a fall and winter operation, with Southampton Social Club expected back in summer.
Some of the year's year-round bets are farther east. In Sag Harbor, Miracle opened this spring at 29 Main Street under owner Michael Nolan, with chef Jesus Gonzales in the kitchen, and Dan's Papers reported plans for year-round lunch and dinner service. In East Hampton, Lion's Nook Bar & Grill opened in the former Rowdy Hall space at 10 Main Street. 27east reports that Alex Rossi and Gary Fuhrman are running it as a year-round restaurant with executive chef Fabian Rodas, serving dinner Wednesday through Sunday.
Spark Hamptons reports that the owners of The Corner at 1 Main Street in Sag Harbor are still looking for an operator for a year-round restaurant after the original team withdrew. In Wainscott, Highway Restaurant & Bar served its last dinner on Labor Day, September 7, after its lease ended.
Status at the end of October
Here is where each change stood in late October:
- Target, 2102 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton. Open since October 6, with a grand opening on October 11. Groceries, Starbucks, pickup and same-day delivery are available, and CVS Pharmacy hours are posted on Target's store page.
- Former Lidl, 70 Sunset Avenue, Westhampton Beach. Closed October 11. Holiday Farms has signed a long-term lease for a 30,000-square-foot supermarket, with no opening date announced.
- Former Herb's Market, 778 Montauk Highway, Montauk. Closed at the end of September. Equipment and fixtures are being sold, and no successor has been named.
- Union, 256 Elm Street, Southampton. Open since October 8 as a fall and winter operation.
- Lifestyle Showroom, 404 Montauk Highway, East Hampton. Selling women's fashion, furniture and home goods in the former Brass & Burl space, with no confirmed opening date.
The next date to watch is Holiday Farms' opening announcement for Sunset Avenue. When that store opens, Westhampton Beach will have a full-service supermarket again.
If you are weighing a year-round setup on the East End, or want to know how these changes affect a home you already own, The Masters Division can walk you through it. Request a private consultation.
