The wait is over. Tonight, you can get off the train and pick up everything you need for dinner. Ready to delight voracious appetites, Best Market had a soft open at 10 this morning—and it looks like the supermarket will satisfy the neighborhood’s hunger for a comprehensive grocery store.
Just steps from the LIRR at 40 Great Neck Rd. in Waldbaum’s old home, you’ll find everything you need and more. The store has been gutted and replaced with bright LED lights, new flooring and a spruced-up interior.
Aside from Best’s signature fresh produce, there’s also a certified kosher bakery on premises with pareve bagels and a huge selection of dairy desserts. Kosher shoppers will also be pleasantly surprised by the nondairy ice cream case and the enormous kosher corner.
Freshly prepared sushi, a juice bar, Boar’s Head deli counter, a wood-smoke barbecue that sells buckets of fried chicken, an olive and salad bar, fresh cheeses, nuts and candy, seafood on ice, packaged appetizing (though a kosher appetizing and meat counter is rumored to open in the near future), seasoned meat and poultry, an extensive ethnic aisle and a frozen pet food case enhance the extensive grocery and takeout offerings.
To add comfort to the experience, the refrigerated cases are enclosed with glass doors so shoppers don’t freeze, food stays fresh and energy isn’t wasted chilling the entire store.
“A supermarket is very important to the fabric of the community,” said Or Raitses, Best Market vice president. “It’s where people meet.”
Having grown up in the business as the grandson of Ben Raitses, who started with a small fruit and vegetable stand, expanded into Produce Warehouse in 1994 and then Best Market, which had been operating 20 markets in the tristate area before adding 10 new groceries this year, Or Raitses has a handle on what shoppers are looking for.
“Having two stores in Manhattan helps us see and follow the trends,” added Raitses.
The vice president of the private, family-owned regional supermarket chain with headquarters in Bethpage welcomes suggestions from customers so that Best Market can provide everything its shoppers are looking for. He is optimistic about parking availability and said that the three-hour limit will be enforced.
The grand opening, replete with a ribbon cutting, with take place this Friday, Feb. 12, at noon. “Come in and check it out,” said Raitses. “I think customers will be very pleased with what we did in a short amount of time.”
To read about the transition from Waldbaum’s to Best Market, click here.
Read about the official opening and ribbon cutting here.
