New supermarkets Shop Fair, Compare Fresh planned for downtown Hempstead Village
Shop Fair, seen here Monday, is one of two supermarkets planned for downtown Hempstead. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Two new supermarkets are planned for Hempstead Village’s downtown, including a Hispanic-format store that will open in a retail and affordable housing development.
Compare Fresh, the Hispanic-format store, will occupy 16,000 square feet on the ground floor of the mixed-use development taking shape at 159 Main St., according to a co-owner.
The other supermarket planned for downtown, a Shop Fair store, will occupy 36,000 square feet at 12 N. Franklin St., said Joseph Simone Jr., superintendent for Hempstead’s building department.
The two grocers are among the new businesses being drawn to Hempstead in part due to the nearly $1 billion in public and private investment planned under revitalization efforts in the village’s downtown, Mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr. said.
“It's also inspiring other businesses that have already been downtown to upgrade their appearances as they see change in the downtown," he said.
The Compare Fresh will be operated by brothers José and Ramon Urena, who opened a Hispanic-format supermarket under another name, Compare Foods, in Brentwood in 2022.
“When this opportunity came upon us, we figured that we could serve the community, especially the Spanish community, and what they need,” said José Urena, who owns a deli in Riverhead, while his brother owns one in the Bronx.
Hispanic or Latino residents accounted for 45.4% of the 58,225 people living in the village in 2023, according to the most-recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Black residents accounted for 46.9% and White residents, 11.4%.
Their new Compare Fresh store will employ 54 people and include full-service bakery, butcher and deli departments; fresh produce; and meals-to-go, he said. The store will carry products popular in Central American communities, such as plantain, yuca, banana leaves and frozen tamales, as well as a variety of spices, beans and rice, he said.
The supermarket is being built as part of a mixed-use project, whose name was changed from Carman Place to 159 Main St., according to one of the developers, Conifer LLC, a Rochester-based real estate company. The other developer is Community Development Long Island, a Melville-based nonprofit developer and manager of housing.
The 228 apartments will be split between two buildings totaling 323,198 square feet on 2.54 acres. The project’s 22,600 square feet of commercial space, including the Compare Fresh supermarket, will be on the ground floor below the apartments in one of the buildings, at the corner of Main and Bedell streets, Conifer said.
Construction on the 159 Main St. development started in April 2023 and the work will be finished in 2026, Conifer said. The Urena brothers plan to open their grocery store in the first quarter of 2026.
The retail and housing development, which will cost an estimated $155 million, is receiving more than $136 million in county, state and federal financial incentives, according to Conifer.
The project, which received a building permit from the village in March 2023, is the first development being built in an overlay zone the village created in 2012 to speed up the approval process for developers wishing to build commercial and residential projects in the area, Simone said.
Shop Fair will occupy a space that Asian grocer V & C Supermarket vacated this year after about 22 years there, Simone said.
The village issued a permit for renovations in September to the property’s owner, Ly Ngoc Hong, Simone said.
The owner did not respond to Newsday’s request for comment and the planned operator of the store could not be reached for comment. It is unclear when the store will open.
But the Shop Fair name is on the North Franklin Street building.
Shop Fair has 16 supermarkets in New York City but none on Long Island, according to its website.
Two new supermarkets are planned for Hempstead Village’s downtown, including a Hispanic-format store that will open in a retail and affordable housing development.
Compare Fresh, the Hispanic-format store, will occupy 16,000 square feet on the ground floor of the mixed-use development taking shape at 159 Main St., according to a co-owner.
The other supermarket planned for downtown, a Shop Fair store, will occupy 36,000 square feet at 12 N. Franklin St., said Joseph Simone Jr., superintendent for Hempstead’s building department.
The two grocers are among the new businesses being drawn to Hempstead in part due to the nearly $1 billion in public and private investment planned under revitalization efforts in the village’s downtown, Mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr. said.
“It's also inspiring other businesses that have already been downtown to upgrade their appearances as they see change in the downtown," he said.
The Compare Fresh will be operated by brothers José and Ramon Urena, who opened a Hispanic-format supermarket under another name, Compare Foods, in Brentwood in 2022.
“When this opportunity came upon us, we figured that we could serve the community, especially the Spanish community, and what they need,” said José Urena, who owns a deli in Riverhead, while his brother owns one in the Bronx.
Hispanic or Latino residents accounted for 45.4% of the 58,225 people living in the village in 2023, according to the most-recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Black residents accounted for 46.9% and White residents, 11.4%.
Their new Compare Fresh store will employ 54 people and include full-service bakery, butcher and deli departments; fresh produce; and meals-to-go, he said. The store will carry products popular in Central American communities, such as plantain, yuca, banana leaves and frozen tamales, as well as a variety of spices, beans and rice, he said.
The supermarket is being built as part of a mixed-use project, whose name was changed from Carman Place to 159 Main St., according to one of the developers, Conifer LLC, a Rochester-based real estate company. The other developer is Community Development Long Island, a Melville-based nonprofit developer and manager of housing.
The 228 apartments will be split between two buildings totaling 323,198 square feet on 2.54 acres. The project’s 22,600 square feet of commercial space, including the Compare Fresh supermarket, will be on the ground floor below the apartments in one of the buildings, at the corner of Main and Bedell streets, Conifer said.
Construction on the 159 Main St. development started in April 2023 and the work will be finished in 2026, Conifer said. The Urena brothers plan to open their grocery store in the first quarter of 2026.
The retail and housing development, which will cost an estimated $155 million, is receiving more than $136 million in county, state and federal financial incentives, according to Conifer.
The project, which received a building permit from the village in March 2023, is the first development being built in an overlay zone the village created in 2012 to speed up the approval process for developers wishing to build commercial and residential projects in the area, Simone said.
Shop Fair will occupy a space that Asian grocer V & C Supermarket vacated this year after about 22 years there, Simone said.
The village issued a permit for renovations in September to the property’s owner, Ly Ngoc Hong, Simone said.
The owner did not respond to Newsday’s request for comment and the planned operator of the store could not be reached for comment. It is unclear when the store will open.
But the Shop Fair name is on the North Franklin Street building.
Shop Fair has 16 supermarkets in New York City but none on Long Island, according to its website.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
Heavy rain today ... EPA restricts chemicals in LI groundwater ... New markets in Hempstead ... Personalized gifts
Heavy rain today ... EPA restricts chemicals in LI groundwater ... New markets in Hempstead ... Personalized gifts
