Quality King Distributors receives $675,000 state grant

Quality King Distributors Inc., one of Long Island’s largest private companies, received a $675,000 state grant Thursday for an expansion project that created 47 jobs in Bellport.

The seller of health and beauty products to drugstores, supermarkets and other retailers invested $15.5 million in its Bellport headquarters and warehouse several years ago.

The improvements included 10,000 square feet of new office space within the 560,000-square-foot building and installation of rooftop solar panels.

“This renovation had a significant impact on improving Quality King’s operations and making them more globally competitive,” said Barry Greenspan, a program administrator in Empire State Development’s Long Island office. ESD is the state’s primary business-aid agency.

He told ESD’s board of directors Thursday that Quality King “is a privately held distributor of over 5,000 different health and beauty products and grocery items” sold in the United States and overseas. The company also has a substantial e-commerce operation.

The expansion project was completed last year, but state funds are only paid out once investment and hiring commitments are fulfilled, Greenspan said.

Quality King had "considered New Jersey" for the project, according to documents prepared for the ESD board. "Without the [state] funding, the project would have taken place at a site in New Jersey."

Quality King now employs more than 900 people in Bellport and at a smaller facility in Ronkonkoma. Marc Garrett, chief operating officer, said Quality King is grateful for state support which "is helping us remain a proud New York State company."

Besides ESD, the Brookhaven Town Industrial Development Agency provided tax breaks for the project, said IDA executive director Lisa M.G. Mulligan.

Separately, the IDA provided tax breaks to Quality King last year for another project that will add 40 more jobs in Bellport due to the planned closure of a warehouse in Florida.

The IDA is helping the company to refinance its mortgage on the Bellport building and make $700,000 worth of improvements to offices and a prototype company store, Mulligan said.

This expansion project is tied to Perfumania Holdings, which is partially owned by the Nussdorf family, owners of Quality King.

The closed Florida warehouse was operated by Perfumania, which sells celebrity and designer fragrances and has struggled financially. Last year the Nussdorfs provided $14 million to Perfumania so that it could exit bankruptcy proceedings.

Quality King’s “commitment to staying on Long Island remains strong in spite of the fact that they continue to receive overtures from other states and municipalities offering incentives,” Alfred Paliani, the company’s top lawyer, said in a 2017 letter to the Brookhaven IDA.