New Lidl in Commack to complete replacement of Best Market on Long Island
Lidl will open its 23rd Long Island store on Aug. 31 in Commack. Credit: Lidl
Lidl’s replacement of Best Market’s presence on Long Island will be complete this month, more than 3½ years after the discount grocer bought most of the supermarkets owned by the Bethpage-based chain.
Lidl will open its 23rd store on Long Island on Aug. 31 in Commack in the Mayfair Shopping Center, which used to have a Best Market.
Lidl spent more than $7 million getting the supermarket ready at 210 E. Jericho Tpke., the grocer said in a statement Monday. The store will employ more than 50 people, Lidl said.
“With regard to the customer reception on the Island, we are seeing growing enthusiasm for our stores. … And our customers in the region continue to grow. We attribute this to our focus on quality, convenience and value and are committed to offering our shoppers on Long Island the best value at our stores every day,” Lidl spokeswoman Chandler Spivey said.
Lidl closed the 60,300-square-foot Best Market in Commack in February 2021 for renovations and conversion to the Lidl name, but later decided to open the new Lidl in a different space in the shopping center. Lidl opted for a smaller space — a 30,000-square-foot unit vacated by off-price department store Stein Mart in 2020.
A German retailer, Lidl entered the Long Island market after it finalized its purchase of 27 stores in New Jersey and New York, including all 24 on Long Island, from Bethpage-based Best Market in January 2019.
Lidl permanently closed several Best Market stores. In addition, Lidl opened three new stores in spaces that had been vacant — in Plainview, Center Moriches and Riverhead.
Lidl operates about 11,550 stores in 32 countries. With its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the retailer has more than 170 stores in nine East Coast states.
Lidl has said it plans to have 50 stores on Long Island by 2029.
The retailer plans to open a store at 450 Commack Rd. in Deer Park, the grocer’s first new-construction store on Long Island, in early 2023.
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.
