Much of summer on the South Fork is associated with crowded beaches, packed shops and restaurants, and people flooding in from elsewhere to spend time in the fresh air and sunshine. However, when the summer gives way to fall and winter, it becomes a whole different place.
With this shift, some stores and eateries start to close. However, others keep their doors open for the entire year, adjusting to find ways to serve the community.
One year-round mainstay is the Sag Harbor Variety Store, which opened in 1922. It’s there for the locals, but also draws tourists. “In more recent years, we have been finding that the people that come into town are more visitors,” said Lisa Field, whose family owns the store. “What tourists are looking for is often different from what a local consumer is looking for.”
While the store likes to focus on the local community, Ms. Field said she knows that the store needs those visitors as well. “We want to be here 12 months out of the year, so there’s no way we would survive if it was only based on what we did in the summertime.”
The Lobster Roll, a popular seafood restaurant on Napeague that opened in 1965, had long closed after summer, but in December 2021 it added a Southampton location on Route 27 near the intersection of County Road 39 that stays open through the winter.
Andrea Anthony, the owner of the Lobster Roll, also known as Lunch for the big sign that has long graced the roof of the Napeague location, said that the new location “speaks for itself — it’s front and center. . . . It was right on the highway, a highway business similar to Amagansett.”
The new spot “made us more visual,” Ms. Anthony said. “You always benefit as a brand when you expand, as long as you keep your operations, your food, and quality of service high — then it’s a good thing.”
While these two locations are serving up the same food, they are drawing in completely different crowds, Ms. Anthony said. “Southampton is more of a community, less touristy,” Anthony said, “whereas Amagansett is tourist-based for the summer.”
Recognizing the seasonal downturn, plenty of places opt to close when things quiet down but still see connecting with the community as a key to success. At Hooked, a seafood eatery on South Etna Avenue in Montauk that is open May through October, it’s important for the staff to recognize regular customers, no matter how busy things get, said Gillian Mooney, one of the owners.
As with the Lobster Roll, the month of August is when Hooked is busiest, weekends above all, particularly holiday weekends, but the weather often dictates the traffic: Hooked’s on site seating is outside.
Sometimes, the spot is so busy it runs out of food, but that’s not a bad thing. “You almost want to run out of things, especially when you’re a fresh fish business,” Ms. Mooney said.
But as the season winds down over the next several weeks, Hooked will wind down too. “We reduce payroll, we reduce our staff, we reduce our ordering,” Ms. Mooney said.
For places like the Sag Harbor Variety Store that are open year round, consistency and reliability are key. “We’re open every day, and [customers] know it. You just have to be consistent. And it’s hard, because there are days when it’s very, very quiet.”
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Ben Epstein was a participant in The Star’s Summer Academy, a journalism program for high school students.