Fairway Market Set to Debut

Fairway Market will debut its long-awaited chain store at the Douglaston Shopping Plaza tomorrow morning following several years of anticipation from northeast Queens residents.

The market, located at 242-02 61st Ave., will open its doors to customers on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Mayor Michael Bloomberg will join local community leaders and elected officials for a ribbon cutting ceremony later in the morning.

The high-end supermarket, which is replacing Waldbaum’s at the shopping plaza, prepares its own food, roasts its own coffee, bakes its own bread and keeps a large inventory of cheeses. It also has an on-site butcher, both kosher and non-kosher.

Jerry Iannece, chairman of Community Board 11, said Douglaston and Little Neck residents have been strongly supportive of Fairway’s decision to open a market in northeast Queens.

“Finally – at last,” he said of the store’s debut. “It’s something the community has anxiously awaited for months. It will bring relief to seniors and residents of co-ops who live nearby, but have had to travel to go shopping.”

Residents at Deepdale Gardens have been forced to shop at Stop and Shop on Northern Boulevard and Waldbaum’s on Union Turnpike in Glen Oaks following the Douglaston Waldbaum’s closure.

had been set for spring 2010, but was pushed back several times amid an extensive process during which the market attempted to obtain a building permit and a variance for a larger storefront sign as well as work out interior issues with Con Edison.

Howard Glickberg, the market’s CEO, said the store would create 400 new local jobs. Its hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 11 pm.

Fairway, which was founded by Nathan Glickberg in 1940, was first operated as a fruit and vegetable stand at the corner of Broadway and West 74th Street.

The chain, which is based in the Upper West Side, now operates stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Check back with Douglaston Patch tomorrow for coverage of Fairway's opening day.