By Kathianne Boniello
Hang in there, residents of Little Neck and Douglaston: It may be just one more month before the neighborhood’s supermarket drought ends.
A spokeswoman for the Boston-based Stop & Shop said last week the company, which scheduled a four-day job fair for Dec. 30, 31 and Jan. 2 and 3, appears ready for its new Little Neck location to open at the end of January. The store was expected to hire 100 or so employees, the spokeswoman said.
“A time tentatively has been scheduled for late January,” spokeswoman Megan Pratt said of the grand opening of the Stop & Shop at Marathon Parkway and Northern Boulevard. “Until we’re a couple of weeks out we can’t really lock in [a date].”
The large corner property has been operated as a supermarket for years and was most recently a Grand Union store, until the chain went bankrupt in 2000 and closed its Little Neck site in October that year.
The property, which was taken over by Stop & Shop in April and had undergone extensive renovations, has been vacant since Grand Union closed, leaving Little Neck and Douglaston residents north of the Long Island Expressway without a neighborhood supermarket.
Stop & Shop was originally scheduled to open its northeast Queens store in the fall, but the company pushed back the start date to sometime in the first three months of 2003. Construction delays were blamed.
Eliot Socci, president of the Douglaston Civic Association, said “January would be a better option than February or March” for the store to open.
On the job fair, Socci said “that’s a good thing — that they’re coming to the community. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are looking forward to working there as well as shopping there.”
Pratt said the scheduled job fair was to give new employees a chance to familiarize themselves with the company.
“This is so people can go to other stores and train,” Pratt said.
According to information provided by Stop & Shop earlier this year, the Little Neck building will have a new facade, a slightly expanded sales area and a refurbished interior.
Renovations also include a repaving and repainting of the parking lot, updated lighting in the parking lot and a new sidewalk in the front of the property.
The new store will have typical supermarket departments such as meat, dairy and produce, the spokeswoman said, as well as a deli counter, a seafood department with a lobster tank, a natural foods section and a department that will feature prepared foods to go.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
