Holiday Farms supermarket taking former Lidl space in Westhampton Beach

Westhampton Beach lost its largest grocery store after discounter Lidl closed this month, but another grocer is slated to fill the gap.

A lease has been signed for a Holiday Farms supermarket to open in Lidl's former 29,118-square-foot space, at 70 Sunset Ave., said the incoming grocer’s operator, David Mandell.

He already has six grocery stores — three Holiday Farms and one Locust Valley Market in Nassau County and two Key Food locations in Queens. 

He expects Holiday Farms to open in Westhampton Beach in May.

"I think it’s a good opportunity for us. I think it’s the right clientele. I think it’s going to be a good location ... similar to what we do in Holiday Farms in Roslyn and Glen Head," Mandell said.

Lidl issued a statement about closing its Westhampton Beach store earlier this month, but the German retailer did not answer Newsday’s inquiries about why the 5-year-old store closed or how many employees were affected.

"Lidl US made the decision to close its Westhampton Beach store on Oct. 11, 2026. We appreciate the contributions of our Westhampton Beach employees and are committed to supporting them throughout this transition, including offering each a position at another Lidl US location," the retailer said in a statement sent to Newsday on Oct. 12.

The closest Lidl to the grocer’s former Westhampton Beach store is 9.5 miles away, in Riverhead.

Lidl is categorized as a limited-assortment grocer, which is smaller than a traditional supermarket and carries a high percentage of its own private-label brands. About 80% of Lidl's products are its own private-label brands.

Lidl closed its Westhampton Beach store because the retailer believed the area wasn’t the right market for it, said Cary Staller, president and co-owner of Staller Associates Realty Inc., the Islandia-based firm representing the landlord.

"It was sort of this upscale vacation market and it didn’t fit in with their prototype," Staller told Newsday last month.

However, Mandell’s Holiday Farms will give the community the full-service offerings that it desires, Staller said Wednesday night.

"He has great produce. He has an incredible meat department. It’s really going to offer so much more to the community. I think it’s going to be terrific," he said.

Loss of the biggest player

Lidl’s Westhampton Beach store was its only location in the Hamptons. It also was the largest among all the grocery stores in Westhampton Beach.

There are a few delis and small food markets in the 2.9-square-mile village, including a specialty, upscale retailer, Citarella, that opened in May. The Manhattan-based chain has three other markets in the Hamptons.

The Holiday Farms planned for Westhampton Beach will be a full-service grocery store with a commercial kitchen, grab-and-go foods, and soup and sushi bars, and as well as bakery, deli, meat and seafood departments, Mandell said.

He is purchasing some of Lidl’s equipment, which will speed up the opening of the store, he said, and plans to hire 50 to 60 workers. But the number of staff members could increase to 75 during the busy summer months, Mandell said.

Lidl’s former Westhampton Beach space was previously occupied by several other grocers, including a Best Market, and before that, a Waldbaum's supermarket.

Lidl entered the Long Island market in January 2019, when the German retailer’s U.S. arm finalized its purchase from Bethpage-based Best Market of 27 stores, including all 24 on the Island, for an undisclosed price.

Lidl remodeled the former Best Market stores in phases and converted them to the Lidl name. The former Best Market in Westhampton Beach opened as a Lidl in 2021.

Best Market, which opened in the space in 2016, had replaced a Waldbaum's that closed in September 2015, after Waldbaum's parent company, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., better known as A&P, filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2015.

Best Market bought the Waldbaum's store in bankruptcy court for $4 million.

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.