Stepping into the new Sagaponack General Store, which reopened yesterday after being closed since 2020, is a sweet experience, and not just because there’s a soft-serve ice cream station on the left and what promises to be the biggest penny candy selection on the South Fork on your right, but because it’s like seeing an old friend who, after some struggle, made it big. Really, really big.
“In my mind this is a little blip in the history of this place,” said Mindy Gray, who purchased the store in 2021 and oversaw its complete and exacting renovation. “I really wanted to give people the sense of stepping back in time. I wanted them to feel the ghosts of Sagaponack past. They’re in the floorboards, in the old signs for bread, for chickenfeed. I just wanted you to be completely transported. The theme is nostalgia.”
“These shelves were made with wood salvaged from the old building,” said Nick Zappola, the general contractor. Next to the shelving is a photo of Ms. Gray’s father, recently deceased, in front of the store during its renovation, a gift from her husband, Jon.
“We hand-carved this,” said Mr. Zappola, pointing to another warmly worn detail. “We tried to use as much of the old material as possible.” The store has been transformed, even if many of the old timbers have been repurposed. The renovation and additions were designed by the architect Frank Greenwald.
Above the penny candy is a large metal sign found in the Hildreth Barn behind the store. It features a rising sun, a rooster, and cow, advertising Shaw & Truesdell Poultry and Dairy Feeds.
“The rooster is our logo,” said Ms. Gray. “The whole genesis came about during Covid, when we were all so separated from community. I was inspired by my four children and husband. The sense was, if this store doesn’t exist, Sagaponack just becomes a collection of houses. It was important to me that this remains a community gathering place where everyone feels welcome.”
Hints of history are everywhere. “See this sled here?” said Mr. Zappola, pointing to an antique sled leaning against the wall. It was found in the barn and could have once been used to help harvest ice. Now it will hold flowers sourced from the cutting garden in the backyard, pollinated by bees from a stack of hives managed by a local beekeeper, Chris Kelly.
The original 1878 building was moved 15 feet back from Sagg Main Street and received a new porch and addition. It can be broken into three sections: the candy and ice cream entrance, the coffee and food section, and a meticulously renovated post office, with its own entrance.
The rear wall of the addition is largely glass and yields views of the Hildreth barn and behind it, acres of agricultural reserve. This allows the store to communicate with its farmland surroundings and binds it further to its history, as a longtime trading post, where farmers bought feed and implements.
It also draws customers deeper, under the store’s high ceilings and exposed timbers and past an antique freezer that has been retrofitted to carry modern-day “healthy option” drinks like kombucha, Olipop soda, and Spindrift. A large, refrigerated produce case will be stocked with local greens and goods, and there’s also a selection of convenient grocery items.
Across from the refrigerators is a long marble food counter and perhaps something that wasn’t around in 1878, a barista.
Gabby Green, the general manager, said it will feature grab-and-go breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. Ms. Gray said Daniel Eddy, chef and owner of Winner Bakery, in Park Slope, has helped develop the menu, which will include classics like chicken pot pie and meatloaf.
For the first time in its history both the post office and the store are A.D.A. approved and fire compliant. A new parking area behind the store connects with a walkway, allowing customers to enter from the back, just past the Hildreth barn and gardens.
Equally important to the renovation was the post office, hints of which show up in the main portion of the store (the penny candy, for example, is held in drawers that slide into a retrofitted post office box cabinet). Ms. Gray filled the post office with 1,500 classic brass post boxes — “It’s the nicest post office in America” — that were repaired by James DeMartis, a Springs blacksmith and metal worker.
Box number 1 belongs to the general store, the post office’s landlord.
The post office has been operating from a trailer on Hedges Lane since November 2023 but hasn’t set a date for its reopening on Sagg Main. “We are in the final steps in the process of reopening. We thank our customers for being patient,” said a spokesperson.
When Ms. Gray began the renovation, she said she wanted to prepare the building for the next 150 years. The invisible portions of the structure prove she has accomplished that. A deep, waterproof basement houses a huge commercial kitchen and all of the building’s mechanicals, including a geothermal heating and cooling system.
The rich history of Sagaponack was even apparent there. Mr. Zappola said when they were drilling the well, 325 feet below the surface, they started bringing up petrified wood, remnants of an ancient, buried forest.
The familiar front benches are back. Early in the week, two new cherry trees were installed, and workers were busy smoothing out walkways and wrestling with a wooden bike rack. The porch was empty. It may be the last time. It’s so welcoming, it’s hard to imagine just passing it by.
The Sagaponack General Store will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., seven days a week, year-round.