Giunta's Meat Farms plans to take over former King Kullen supermarket space

A Giunta’s Meat Farms in Middle Island would fill a community void left by a 34-year-old King Kullen supermarket that shut down this summer, a local community leader said.

"I think we would be thrilled to have the Giunta’s Meat Farms here in Middle Island. It’s a very popular store and a lot of people have spoken of them coming," said Gail Lynch-Bailey, president of the Middle Island Civic Association.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets received an application for a grocery store license for a Giunta’s Meat Farms supermarket planned for 1235 Middle Country Rd., agency spokeswoman Hanna Birkhead said in an email.

Received by the state agency Aug. 25, the license application submitted by 1235 Foods LLC, doing business as Giunta’s Meat Farms, states that the store’s projected opening date is Oct. 1, Birkhead said.  

Giunta’s Meat Farms did not respond to a request for comment Thursday about its plans for a Middle Island store.

But the grocer has "Middle Island" listed online among its store locations that job applicants can select for their preferred work sites.

Giunta’s Meat Farms’ store employees are represented by two union locals — United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 342 in Mineola and Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW Local 338 in Mineola.

On Friday, spokeswomen for both locals confirmed that Giunta’s Meat Farms will be opening a store in the former King Kullen space in Middle Island.

Island Associates Real Estate Inc., the Smithtown-based company that manages the Middle Island retail property called the Strathmore Commons Shopping Center, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

No building-related plans for a Giunta’s Meat Farms in Middle Island have been submitted to the Town of Brookhaven for approval, town spokesman Drew Scott said.

Giunta’s Meat Farms has nine Long Island stores, including locations in Bohemia, Commack, Farmingdale and Hauppauge. The stores' departments include butcher, produce, dairy, deli and bakery.

Giunta’s Meat Farms is a strong family-owned grocery operator that initially focused on produce, meat and other perishable items when it started in the 1990s, said Kevin Gallagher, co-publisher of Food Trade News, a Columbia, Maryland-based publication.

"They have really transitioned over the last couple of decades into a high-end retailer," he said.

'Distressing to see'

In July, King Kullen Grocery Co. closed its 45,000-square-foot Middle Island supermarket after 34 years of operation there. The Hauppauge-headquartered grocery chain "made a business decision not to renew the lease at its Middle Island store," a spokesman told Newsday in July.

Giunta’s Meat Farms would be a welcome and much-needed addition to a community that has few options for fresh food, Lynch-Bailey said Thursday.

"Within the last year, we have lost two major chain grocery stores in our community, on Middle Country Road, and those empty buildings are really distressing to see and realize that they are no longer outlets for people to shop regularly for fresh food," she said.

The closing of the King Kullen in Middle Island left the hamlet with one small grocery store, Sunny Farms Marketplace, she said.

The 26,000-square-foot Sunny Farms opened in May 2024 on Middle Country Road, about a mile from the King Kullen in Middle Island.

Last November, neighboring Coram lost its only supermarket, a Stop & Shop that was 4.3 miles from the King Kullen.

Coram’s 2023 population was 41,527 and Middle Island’s was 11,086, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.