Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Sea Horse Gift Shop, a longtime fixture in Freeport, will close later this month, as a result of challenges that left the business unsustainable. The gift shop is the last retail store remaining on the Nautical Mile.
As is the case for many small businesses on Long Island and across the country, the Sea Horse, which opened in 1991, has faced economic headwinds for years. The rising costs of living and the decline in the popularity of in-person shopping brought on by the explosion of online commerce platforms like Amazon led the shop’s owners, Millie and Michael "Mike" Kaland, to make the painful decision to close.
“There’s so many reasons why,” Millie explained. “Mostly, it’s no foot traffic and no money. … That’s the way things are now. The economy is bad. The gas prices are too high. It’s just a different time. 35 years is a long time — 35 years ago, things were just so different.”
“We ran out of that time,” Mike adds.
The couple, who ran the gift shop with their daughter and general manager, Lisa Kaland-Cassella, said that safety concerns and other changes on Woodcleft Avenue, the location of the Nautical Mile, also factored into their decision.
The Sea Horse offered an assortment of Long Island- and Freeport-themed clothing, jewelry and other collectibles that were popular among tourists and residents alike. The Kalands said that the store rarely turned a profit for the family, even in its best years, and described the business as a labor of love. When asked what it would take to improve commerce on the Nautical Mile, the couple admitted it was hard to say for sure.
Richard Branciforte, the executive director of the Nautical Mile Business Organization (NMBO), a coalition of Freeport waterfront businesses that seeks to better market the Nautical Mile, agreed that safety is a concern on Woodcleft Avenue. He cited "packs of kids on bikes," 10 to 15 he estimates, recklessly pouring through streets and cars speeding past stop signs as frequent safety concerns.
The Herald noticed a group of approximately 50 minors biking down the middle of North Main Street and other Freeport streets one afternoon on Aug. 30.
However, Branciforte believes that a more prominent issue for Nautical Mile commerce is a lack of sufficient advertising from many of its businesses and a deficiency in having other kinds of businesses present outside of restaurants.
"The people on the Nautical Mile believe that it's going to be kind of organic, that people are just going to show up," he said. "Most of the businesses do absolutely nothing to promote themselves, and that's what the Nautical Mile Business Organization was trying to do."
Branciforte cited the recent Nautical Mile Gift and Craft Show the organization hosted at the nearby Sea Breeze Park, as an example of an initiative intended to generate extra commerce and interest in the Nautical Mile. However, he alleged that much of the NMBO members do not show up to meetings or want to invest in marketing themselves more.
"The biggest number one problem with the Nautcial Mile is no retail stores, except for Sea Horse," Branciforte continued. "So, if you were a family of four, and you came to the Nautical Mile in the middle of the summer, what are you going to do [besides eat] when you get there?"
With Sea Horse's impending departure, few businesses on the Nautical Mile offer any services that aren't food-based. Sparkle on Stage's drama and arts productions, fishing and boating services like the Codfather Fishing Charters and lifestyle businesses like LITMOM on the Mile, are few of the limited non-dining options left on the Nautical Mile.
The Sea Horse was founded shortly after the so-called “Perfect Storm” of 1991, an unnamed Category One hurricane that, after absorbing Hurricane Grace to its south, ravaged much of the Atlantic coast, and inspired author Sebastian Junger’s 1997 book and the 2000 film of the same name. Since then, several storms, most notably 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, have battered Freeport and the rest of the South Shore. Still, the gift shop remained, evidence of the persistence and determination of the coastal communities that persevered.
“We were a little familiar with other stores like this in other parts of the country, and this was the ideal location for it,” Mike Kaland told the Herald.
Almost four decades later on a gray afternoon last week, rain again fell steadily on the Nautical Mile, and there was significant empty space on the Sea Horse shelves. Two signs outside the store, one announcing a 40 percent closing sale on most merchandise and, on the other, the words “Lets Talk,” in bold red letters, above the phone number of the property’s landlord, explain the somber mood for its owners and last sets of patrons.
Despite the weather, the Kalands avoided expressions of bitterness about their beloved shop’s closing. They spoke of the tremendous support the Freeport community has shown them since they announced their closing on Aug. 21 in a public farewell letter.
“In this kind of weather, normally, we would have closed,” Mike said, “’cause nobody would be down here.”
As he and Millie spoke with the Herald, Lisa helped several customers make their final purchases. Many people have stopped by in recent weeks, since the closing was announced, to voice their disappointment, and their support for the family.
“We have met so many friends,” Millie said. “Just besides the customers, so many good friends we have met here. I am going to miss that terribly, because where will I see them?”
Mike explained that the rent for the store is paid through the end of this month, and that the store will open each day at noon until then, unless they sell all the merchandise. While Millie is planning to retire, Mike will continue working in his separate, private wholesale business, also headquartered on the Nautical Mile.
In the family’s farewell letter, which they addressed to their “loyal customers, dear friends and Nautical Mile family,” the Kalands thanked the community for its support.
“The Sea Horse has been built on more than merchandise and sales,” the letter reads. “It was built on relationships. The familiar faces, the conversations at the counter, the laughter, the stories, the hugs, the visits and the customers who became friends — and over the years, became like family.”
The letter concludes, “Thank you for 35 incredible years. Thank you for standing beside us through every storm. And thank you for making the Sea Horse a part of your lives.”
