Community Corner

Long Beach Resident to Open Organic Supermarket

Owner Benjamin Levine said he expects a mid-August grand opening in Rockville Centre.


A Long Beach native will soon provide shoppers on the South Shore with an organic supermarket.

Benjamin Levine, who was raised in Long Beach and graduated from Long Beach High School, said quality, fresh foods will be a staple at his new store, Key Food Fresh, a supermarket that will replace Waldbaum's on Ocean Avenue in Rockville Centre in August.

"Our meats and produce are top notch," Levine said. "No other place on the South Shore will be like this."

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Levine is the president of Pick Quick Foods, Inc., a family-owned food chain his grandfather started in 1936. Levine owns seven Key Food Fresh locations, including four in Brooklyn.

He explained that Key Food Fresh will feature a "farmers-market type" produce section, a full kitchen and deli area with an on-site sushi chef, as well as a large bakery. The deli will sell Boarshead products, he said, but will highlight Chairman Reserve — a line of top tier black angus meats.

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It will also feature a large local dairy section with a "high-quality cheese island," he said, which will contain myriad cheeses from around the world.

The store will be gutted and renovated from top to bottom, Levine noted, and the new Key Food Fresh will have a completely different look from the outdated Waldbaum's.

"This is not your mother's Key Food," said Executive Vice President Howard Lipman.

Lipman added that prices will be lower than nearby competitors. "Compared to others, we'll be on the lower scale of prices," he said.

Levine said the supermarket is conducting interviews to hire potential employees for more than 100 open positions through the next two weeks, on Tuesdays and Thursdays (1-5 p.m.) and Saturdays (8 a.m. to noon).


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