Uncle Giuseppe's Greenvale store opens its 8th location

Equipped with a 2,100-pound wheel of Wisconsin cheddar to be carved like an ice sculpture, Italian grocer Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace opened its ninth Long Island location on Friday.

The Greenvale store, at 130 Wheatley Plaza, will be open for shopping at 7 a.m. and host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m., said Nick Renna, director of marketing and e-commerce for the grocery chain.

"There's going to be a lot of energy in the building," Renna said. "It's one of our favorite days. It's our Super Bowl.”

The American-made wheel of cheese, chosen as an ode to the country's 250th anniversary, is roughly 5 feet tall and has to be transported via forklift, Renna said. The cheddar will be carved to look like "a traditional Uncle Giuseppe's storefront," with a sign, the emblematic "G" and Roman columns, he said.

"It's going to look like a piece of art," Renna said. 

Attractions throughout the store will include cannoli carts and charcuterie tastings, Renna said. The store will also open "an extremely rare wheel of cheese" — a 10-year aged Parmigiano Reggiano — for sampling.

The day's events will be set against a soundtrack familiar to Uncle Giuseppe's shoppers: store singer Tony Della, who was the grocery chain's first singer, will perform, Renna said.

Expansion plans

Part of a long-term East Coast expansion plan, the market will take the place of a Stop & Shop in a 52,000-square-foot space, Newsday has reported. Co-founder and CEO Carl DelPrete told Newsday last month that the store would employ approximately 250 full- and part-time workers.

"We're looking at opening at least two stores a year, but it all really depends on us finding the correct market and the right space," DelPrete told Newsday in July.

The company typically looks for densely populated areas where businesses have office space and residents have backyards for hosting barbecues, said Uncle Giuseppe's President Michael Nelson on Wednesday. 

"It's a lot of little elements we look at that determine whether or not an area is right for Uncle Giuseppe's," said Nelson, of Melville. "And then, we're pretty picky about the box we go into."

The chain has not yet built a ground-up store, Nelson said. Instead, the grocer looks for a closed stores in existing shopping centers. The business looks for 55,000-square-foot footprints, but is open to the possibility of a smaller store in an established market, Nelson said. 

The Greenvale space worked in terms of size, timing and location, he said. On a map, there was a "void" amid stores in Melville, Port Washington, East Meadow and Massapequa, Nelson said.

"There was kind of this hole in the middle that we didn't serve, and so it was an opportunity for us to get in and fill that part of the market," he said. 

Later this year, the chain is expected to open a Levittown location on Hempstead Turnpike, at a site previously occupied by King Kullen, Newsday has reported.

In addition to the mainstays of the brand, the Greenvale location will showcase a newer offering. New stores are outfitted with two six-person golf carts used to transport customers between the store and their cars, Renna said. 

The new concept is an extension of a company tenet, Renna said: "We believe that customer service should extend beyond the counter." Renna said.

By Arielle Dollinger

arielle.dollinger@newsday.com@aridollinger

Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.