Fairway Opens 1st Store in N.Y.’s Suffolk County
Fairway Market has opened its first location in Long Island’s Suffolk County, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by local officials at DSW Plaza in the town of Lake Grove, N.Y. The 50,000-square-foot store is also the company's 15th supermarket in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
"The location is ideal: DSW Plaza is also home to such national names as Designer Shoe Warehouse, Toys R Us and Babies R Us, and it is directly across the street from the Smith Haven Mall, so it is right in the heart of Suffolk County," noted Charles Santoro, executive chairman of New York-based Fairway Market.
Helping a Vet Find a Home
At the grand-opening ceremony for the Lake Grove store, Santoro revealed that Fairway is teaming with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. to help raise funds for a mortgage-free home giveaway for a returning wounded or disabled Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran on Long Island.
"The men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan sacrificed so much in the name of freedom," he said. “In far too many cases, they have come back missing limbs and organs and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. And far too often, these wounded veterans are marginalized or forgotten. We have an obligation -- as a country and as Americans -- to ensure that their sacrifices are not forgotten, that they have access to the finest care for their injuries, and that we do what we can to help them reintegrate into their families and their communities in the most seamless manner."
On Wednesday, July 30, a Shopping Night will be held in the store, with 25 percent of all sales proceeds going directly to the effort. Other fundraisers benefiting the home giveaway include a July 26 comedy show headlined by stand-up comedian Keith Anthony in Huntingdon Station, N.Y., and a Sept. 28 concert in Northport, for which a series of open auditions for veterans who can sing will be held in August in Hauppauge, N.Y. Additionally, Rosemarie Kluepfel, a motivational speaker who works for Fairway, has written a song, "The Reason I Breathe." All proceeds from the CD, as well as from the comedy show and the concert, will go to the cause.
As well as "providing customers a fabulous food shopping experience with fresh, natural, organic and conventional foods at terrific prices," said Bill Sanford, Fairway's interim CEO, the store had created about 250 jobs and vowed that it would be “an active contributor to the surrounding communities.”