By Dana Williams
“The preview opening was a success because we had 5,700 visitors the first day and about 4,000 visitors on Saturday and Sunday,” explained Ron Morello, the market’s president. “The place is so big, but we definitely saw a constant crowd of people walking through the doors and shopping around the building.”
The market first opened in 1981 and the owners sublet the four-story building on Hempstead Turnpike to National Wholesale Liquidators after it closed in March 1995. The news of the reopening came on March 19, just weeks after NWL — which filed for bankruptcy in November — closed more than 30 stores including its headquarters building in West Hempstead.
Now, officials said, they are working overtime to make the market a popular destination for shoppers. It will now be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The flea-market-type business, which has 350 sales compartments on a two-story, 125,000-square-foot selling floor, and features nearly 200 clothing, footwear and jewelry vendors and a café.
Morello said the construction of the market’s food court will be completed next month. Officials are also planning a grand-opening ceremony for early summer. “We’re moving ahead according to plan and everything has been going great,” Morello said. “We’re just very happy to be back here in this community doing business.”
With the current economy struggling and consumer spending in Nassau County on a bit of a downturn, several vendors at the market said it was refreshing to see so many people purchasing their merchandise during opening weekend.
“The opening days went really good and we had a lot of customers in and out of the store,” said Jim McQuade, president of Matty’s Toy Stop, one of the original vendors in the market. “I actually started to expand my business after opening-up in Shopper’s Village years ago, so to see this place open again and all of the support, has really been great.”
And officials say that the reaction about the market’s return from members in the West Hempstead community has been very positive.
Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Civic Association, said she was pleased with her shopping experience after a recent visit. “It was a pleasure to be able to shop there,” she said. “The store was clean, bright and vendors were pleasant.”
“It brought back great memories from years past,” Scott Jablow, president of the Cathedral Gardens Civic Association, said after he visited the market. “Customers will be happy with the bright lighting and wide isles, with a wide array of offerings by many types of vendors. Because Shopper’s Village is run by local residents, I think that our community will be very happy with how clean everything is inside and out.”
The news about the market’s return to West Hempstead has also spread rapidly thanks to a Shopper’s Village Facebook page created by Elmont resident Milena DelGenio.
DelGenio, 37, who used to shop at the market as a teenager during the 1980s and early 1990s, said she was one of the many people who rushed down to visit the market on May 19.
“Shopper’s Village is really amazing and many of the vendors from years ago came back, which is great,” she said, adding that the Facebook page has grown from 50 to 3,500 members including former Long Island residents who are currently finalizing travel plans to visit the market. “It’s really great that this market is back here in the area because so many people loved shopping there.”
For many, the new Shopper’s Village is a mixture of the old and new, and a good sign of the great things to come in the area. “It’s as though I’d been transported back in time to the 80s, only brighter, cleaner, and with more pizazz,” said West Hempstead resident Seth Bykofsky. “Shopper’s Village is still a work in progress, [but] well worth a visit from near and far.”
“The minute you walk in there, it takes you back to the old days, and that is a really great feeling,” DelGenio added. “I definitely think Shopper’s Village will be a place that a lot of people will visit often.”
For more information about Shopper’s Village, go to shoppersvillage2.com.
Comments about this story? DWilliams@
liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
