Giftalicious eyes new digs

By Rich Bockmann

Giftalicious, the party store/pastry shop that aimed to be the new Douglaston Market when it opened last summer, is planning to move into the store left vacant by the old Douglaston Market next month, co-owner Demetra Sirica said.

“The space was available, so I took it,” explained Sirica, who said she is looking to reopen her store on the northern side of the Long Island Rail Road tracks during the first week of March. “It’s closer to the school and the morning traffic. I like that side better.”

When Giftalicious opened on the south side of the train tracks last year, Sirica said she hoped the shop’s small seating area in the front of the building would fill the void left in the neighborhood when the Douglaston Market abruptly closed the month before after serving for years as a place where neighbors could stop and chat with one another as they grabbed a cup of coffee.

“We want to be the new Douglaston Market without the egg sandwiches,” she said at the time, not wanting to give the impression that the store would be a deli like the market, which was known for the sandwiches.

Giftalicious’ bread and butter is the handmade custom gift baskets customers can request in the shop or online, which the shop hand delivers in Queens and Nassau County and can ship them anywhere beyond.

After a Christmas season when the store wrapped about 2,500 of its signature gift baskets, Sirica said it was clear she needed more space for her business to grow.

“People were coming in and saying there was not enough room to sit down, asking for their newspapers and egg sandwiches,” she said.

At about twice the size, the new location will give Giftalicious the space to add the deli part of the old Douglaston Market with items like salads, hot food during lunch and ice cream bars and … egg sandwiches.