Roslynites that frequent King Kullen in Mineola will need to look elsewhere soon. Mineola village officials revealed last week that the 52 Jericho Tpke. location will shut its doors. A closing date is unknown at this time.
“I don’t know where I’m going to shop now,” Jessica Frantanatta of Williston Park said outside the food store last week. “I know there’s other supermarkets nearby, but I can walk to this one.”
Rumors circulated that low-income housing was going to replace the food store. Officials debunked that speculation last week. Mineola’s village attorney John Spellman said landowners were in talks with Western Beef to move its Second Street location to Jericho Turnpike, but the plan was nixed.
The property’s owner, Leone Family Trust, owner of Jericho Terrace in Mineola, is working on a plan for an unnamed building supply company to replace King Kullen, Mineola reps said. Village officials declined to reveal the name of the potential replacement and are unsure if the location would function as retail store or storage facility.
“I’m not sure where that came from,” Spellman said of the housing rumor. “That came out of left field. There was a possibility for Western Beef, but it’s off the table. It’s now a home improvement, construction-type supply place [as a possibility].”
However, no plan is in place to replace the shuttered Rite Aid, also owned by Leone, next door to the supermarket yet. Leone and King Kullen did not return calls for comment.
“I’m not sure when it’s closing, but it’s definitely closing,” Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss said. “We found out about this recently.”
An application will be submitted to the village’s building department to construct outside fence enclosures in the rear of the building to cordoned off storage containers, Spellman said.
“If a supermarket were to replace King Kullen, an applicant would not have to come before the village board,” Strauss said. “Anything, else, they have to. I’m not overly concerned. I’m watching it and we’ll do what’s in the best interest of the village and the neighborhood.”
While multiple King Kullens crowd Jericho Turnpike (there’s one just down the street in Garden City Park), residents will need to look elsewhere now for weekly shopping trips.
“Sorry to see King Kullen go,” Strauss said. “I shop there, a lot of people shop there.”
