New Woodmere Stop & Shop is open 

Kosher food, pizza, sushi and supermarket staples

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The aisles are wide, the lighting is bright and  freshness abounds with the grand opening of the new 67,000-square-foot Stop & Shop supermarket at 253-01 Rockaway Blvd., in the Five Towns Shopping Center on Oct. 30, and listed as the Woodmere store by Stop & Shop officials.

A kosher produce area leads into the two-sided kosher food aisle that includes dairy, frozen, grocery and meat items and wraps around to the fish area. Among the 2,000 kosher items, half are new, according to Stop & Shop spokeswoman Stefanie Shuman, including the hard-to-get Sprinkles line of frozen treats. 

Stop & Shop shoppers will recognize the familiar produce, bakery and deli departments that include twists such as a flatbread pizza station, the first on Long Island and among only a handful of all the supermarket franchise’s more than 400 stores. There is also a sushi made fresh in-story daily and a hot foods bar, all made for grab and go meal. “You can take it on the go or have it baked here,” Shuman said about the pizza, “it’s all assembled here.” The pizza and sushi non-kosher. 

Beer aficionados will find the expansive area full of their favorite beverage including local brews such as Greenport Harbor, Montauk and offerings from the Port Jeff Brewing Company. Store manager Artur Alchasov noted that there are mix and match selections to create an individual six pack. There are also many others items from local vendors from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he added. 

For the convenience of customers, the new store also offers online shopping with orders being placed at stopandshop.com and pick up from outside the building that was formerly a Kmart department store and in-store the price guns are available to scan items as you shop. Along with the traditional checkout areas there are several self-checkout machines. 

The Woodmere store is the first of what Stop & Shop officials called “remodels” of several Nassau County stores that dovetails with the supermarket company’s remodeling of 21 Stop & Shops in Suffolk County. Later this year stores in Glen Cove, Huntington, Port Washington and West Babylon are receiving makeover and others are to be “refreshed” in 2021. Stop & Shop in Inwood in the Burnside Commons closed on Oct. 29. It is unknown at this time if any other supermarket will take its place.
    
It’s very exciting and it’s all about teamwork,” Alchasov said about opening a new store. “I was looking forward to this as all the hard work came to fruition.

As part of the grand opening, Stop & Shop donated $1,000 and $500 of Nature’s Promise natural organic products to the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC, which runs a kosher food pantry in Cedarhurst.

“Stop & Shop is providing an amazing selection of kosher products, that will be so important to Jewish consumers throughout the greater Five Towns,” said Stacey Feldman, associate executive director of the Gural JCC. “Stop & Shop has been a longtime supporter of the Rina Shkolnik Kosher Food Pantry. Their ongoing support for the work we do underscores their commitment to the Five Towns. They truly understand the role that a corporate citizen can play in improving and enhancing the lives of its neighbors.”