'Jersey Shore' star Snooki opens Huntington boutique, The Snooki Shop
"Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi's new Huntington store The Snooki Shop will be open at 42 Gerard Street. Credit: Howard Schnapp ; Getty Images
Fans lined Gerard Street and New York Avenue before 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in February to be among the first to shop the new Huntington village boutique opened by Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi LaValle.
People lined up for the opening of The Snooki Shop in Huntington on Feb. 24. Credit: Rick Kopstein
“Our grand openings are always crazy. We love to get the whole community involved,” says Polizzi LaValle, of the “Jersey Shore” reality TV franchise.
The Snooki Shop at 42 Gerard St. opened its doors with Champagne, hors d’oeuvres, hundreds of gift bags and fans bundled up outside wearing “Jersey Shore”-inspired shirts.
“We love Snooki; she is our idol,” says Maria Sabatino, 18, of Huntington. She waited for 90 minutes to scour the store’s racks for a “Jersey Shore” sweatshirt.
Clothing at the boutique, catering to ages 16 to 45, initially includes spring outfits and lots of lounge wear, Polizzi LaValle, 36, says. “I’m really big on loungewear — no makeup, hair in a bun, cozy but still trying to look cute,” she says. But there are also choices for going out, she says. Accessories include colorful Snooki sunglasses and Snooki slippers.
“It’s basically like you’re shopping in my closet,” she says.
Some Snooki merchandise reflects Polizzi LaValle from her wildest, original “Jersey Shore” phase: one T-shirt features her with two police officers as she tells them “I’m a good person” while being arrested; another features her mug shot. “It’s at the point where we can laugh at it now,” she says of her experiences on the original series that ran on MTV from 2009 to 2012.
She adds: “I just want to have good relations with everyone in town, because I feel like every time I open somewhere, people have like a misconception of my store, and like what I’m selling, and they’re just like ‘Oh, we don’t want her here.’ And then when I actually open, they see my store and they’re like, “Oh, OK, not that bad.’ So, I’m hoping everyone comes around and they love us.”
Julianna Perri, 20, of Port Jefferson, was the first customer to purchase an item at The Snooki Shop in Huntington on Feb. 24. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Polizzi LaValle is married to Jionni LaValle, 36, who works in real estate, and they have three children, Lorenzo, 11, Giovanna, 9, and Angelo, 4. They live in northern New Jersey.
Gift bags and champagne were ready for the opening of The Snooki Shop in Huntington on Feb. 24. Credit: Rick Kopstein
The Huntington store replaces Polizzi LaValle’s store in upstate Beacon. She says the Beacon area has become very hipster and organic, and that didn’t line up with her brand anymore. “My leopard print and my loudness didn’t fit on the same street as that,” she says. “I feel like Long Island gets my leopard and my glam.” She also has stores in Madison and Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
Polizzi LaValle has been to Huntington a number of times — she did a book signing at The Book Revue in 2014 for her book on pregnancy and she did a show at The Paramount.
Polizzi LaValle was unable to attend at the grand opening due to her filming schedule. “We just started filming the next season of ‘Jersey Shore,’ ” she says. Polizzi LaValle is part of the cast of the spinoff reality show “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
