A new Argentine cafe will likely occupy the storefront near the longstanding Harry’s Hilltop Deli after the Williston Park trustees granted the business tentative approval, despite pushback from Harry’s owner and employees.
New Hyde Park resident, finance professional and Argentine baker Romina Feduzi-Lopez plans to open Romi’s Bake Shop, a small grab-and-go bakery with cafe seating serving pastries, cakes, cookies and gourmet coffee at 56 Hillside Ave. to bring something different to the neighborhood.
“Our vision is to bring something new and unique to Williston Park: a neighborhood cafe that specializes in authentic, freshly baked Argentine pastries and cakes and a welcoming space where families, neighbors and students can gather,” Lopez told the Williston Park Board of Trustees Monday night.
Lopez said she chose Williston Park as a home for her business because she found the community beautiful and believed the walkable streets would create a positive atmosphere for her business, allowing her to pick up on foot traffic in the area.
But not everyone in Williston Park Village Hall was happy to hear of the new business plan Monday night.
Marilyan Pike, an employee of Harry’s Hilltop Deli, read a letter from Harry opposing the new cafe, fearing it would drive him out of business.
“I am adamantly opposed to the [cafe], as it will decimate my established business and take away from my customer base. To allow this application to go through would be an extreme detriment and hardship for my deli,” the letter reads. “To consider…a business that is so similar to the products I provide does not make any sense. It will not add anything to the community, just take away from it.”
Pike and another deli employee, Daniella Ryan Burke, also spoke on their own behalf. They expressed a fear that the new cafe was too similar to the deli and would cause it to lose so much business that the deli would close, leaving them out of a job.
“We serve coffee and pastries all day long, from open to close. A business such as this could really cause great trouble for us,” Burke said. “We’re actually terrified. We’ve been there for many years…Now they’re going to open to sell coffee and pastries as well, which could harm us. We’ve already seen a great decline in business as it is.”
“If this opens and takes more business from us, we don’t know what we would do. This is his livelihood. This is all of our livelihood,” Burke continued. “Harry employs many people. Quite a few of us are a bit older. We don’t know what we do, and especially the people in their 60s and 70s, if the deli closed.”
Lopez said she did not believe her cafe would cause issues for the deli, emphasizing that the two businesses were different enough to capture different client bases and that her cafe would provide a cute place for people, particularly women, to sit down and talk to each other.
She added that she had actually considered the deli when she was planning her business, saying that she had considered selling breakfast sandwiches but decided against it after looking at the deli’s menu.
“When we started, my first vision was to have breakfast sandwiches, eggs. [But], as soon as we started visiting the store, it was clear to me that there’s a deli in the corner, so it doesn’t make sense for me to serve eggs,” Lopez said. “So, those were off the menu immediately…Why would I want to serve sandwiches? If people want a sandwich, they have a deli for that, and I don’t intend to take their business.”
Lopez’s landlord, Frances Haghighi, who has owned the store Lopez is renting for roughly two decades, spoke in support of the cafe.
She also reminded the public that there used to be a bagel shop directly across the street from the deli until it burned down roughly 10 years ago, which did not impact the deli’s business despite being arguably more similar to the deli than the Argentinian cafe.
“When the bagel shop was right across the street…Everything was in harmony. We had customers going to the bagel shop, buying coffee and bagels in the morning. They had pastries, they had apple turnovers, and they had muffins in their cases. And it worked,” Haghighi said. “So, I really can’t see this not working. They’re going to have a very different product…I think this is going to add to the community, not take away from it.”
Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said he understood the concerns from Harry’s employees, but after hearing out both sides, the board voted unanimously to approve the bakery, subject to Lopez agreeing in writing to a series of stipulations discussed during the hearing, such as employee parking and garbage disposal.
After approving the bakery, the board approved a law banning short-term rentals in the village. The law, designed to prevent Airbnb-type rentals, bans rentals of any kind, including apartments, houses, garages and pools, for less than 28 days.
“We want to stop potential short-term rentals in the village, such as Airbnb,” Ehrbar said. “I think it’s not good for the village.”
Other trustees seconded Ehrbar’s sentiment, saying an overpopulation of rentals “destroys” a village. They wanted to avoid New York City tourists renting a room for a few days in Williston Park.
The board passed it unanimously, meaning that anyone currently renting out any part of their property for less than 28 days must immediately stop and may not start again.
People are still able to rent out homes and apartments in typical, long-term leases.
Ehrbar then provided an update on the village’s water filtration system installation.
As voted on during a February hearing, granular activated carbon filters will be placed at both of the village’s well sites, Well 1A and Well 2, which are grouped together, and Well 4, to filter out cancer-causing chemical PFAS according to new EPA guidelines.
Both Williston Park and East Williston residents use Williston Park’s water and will share the cost of the filtration system in the form of a 33% rate increase in both villages. This led to a subsequent debate over the necessity of the work.
Ehrbar said he has met with East Williston Mayor Bonnie Parente multiple times regarding the issue and welcomed her to reach out to talk with him further about the matter.
Ehrbar said the village had officially received a $5 million grant for the filtration system at Well 4 and was making significant progress in developing plans for that well’s filtration system.
While he did not have an estimated start date for the work, he said he hoped it would start “as soon as possible.” The village’s engineers had a meeting scheduled this week to continue putting together a bid package for the work.
The village’s next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22.
