A new business in Greenport was ordered to close its doors for a week because the owner launched the shop without planning board approval.
A motion is on the agenda for next Thursday’s planning board work session to accept an application by Mark Zucchero, owner of Flying Point Sports, for the business, a retail surf and sporting goods shop,located at 405 Main Street and zoned commercial retail.
But Zucchero, the planning board said, opened on Saturday, despite having no approval.
Planning board chair Peter Jauquet told Zucchero he had to shut his door until next week’s planning board meeting. “That’s what we are demanding,” he said.
Zucchero apologized and said he did not know and had no similar problems opening a shop in Southampton Town, so did not know proper procedure. He also said he did not think he would have a problem with approval because he’d made no structural changes to the shop.
Code enforcement officer and building inspector Eileen Wingate told him she’d met with Zucchero and told him that he could not open without approval and told him he wouldn’t be open for Memorial Day weekend.
“I don’t remember that,” he said, asking the planning board if they could possibly have a meeting sooner than next week. The board said a decision would be made at next Thursday’s meeting. Before then approval would be needed by the historic preservation commission, the board said.
Meanwhile, a group of Greenport business owners has rallied to support a mom-and-pop shop they think could feel the impacts of what they’ve called the “chain” surf shop opening its doors just a block away.
Supporters of One Love Beach, a family owned business that features paddleboards, surf boards and other merchandise, are seeing red after Flying Point Sports, a surf shop with a number of locations across the East End, including stores in Southampton, Sag Harbor, Wainscott, and Bridgehampton, opened on Saturday.
Chris Dowling, owner of One Love Beach, sits on the Greenport Village planning board.
“I think it is abhorrent that a long-time resident and landlord of Greenport Village would have such disregard for a fellow local hardworking business that will directly affect the livelihood of the husband and wife team who own One Love Beach,” Greenport resident and business owner Rena Casey-Wilhelm said in an email.
Chris and Blake Dowling, owners of One Love Beach, which opened last year on Main Street, just a block away from Flying Point’s new location on Main Street in the village, “filled a niche for our small village by providing us with a classy and stylish surf and sporting shop,” Wilhelm said. “The new surf shop carries about 90 percent of the merchandise found in One Love Beach.”
The Dowlings, Wilhelm said, “are knowledgeable, oourteous, respectful and are always just full of happiness. It is an absolute joy to shop there. I will never step foot in another establishment.”
“My neighbors, Blake and Chris on One Love Beach, took a big risk in opening a small surf shop in downtown Greenport last year,” said Danielle Rodger. “Flying Point opened up a very similar store down the street selling most of the same products.This company which owns multiple stores on the South Fork is behaving unethically.”
“I am deeply distrubed by Flying Point Surf Shop’s move into our town,” Rodger continued. “Generally, new businesses in Greenport try not to sell the same products as other stores nearby. Flying Point is clearly violating this standard and is aggressively conflicting with One Love Beach. Their conduct and our permission of it will set a new precedent in our town. Not one that respects its neighbors enough not to overlap on merchandise. Not one that listens to town codes and rules and follows them, even though it will cost them a loss of sales. Not one that supports the local people that live hear year round, trying to make a living and raise their kids here.”
The Dowlings, she said, “are a committed part of this community”, sitting on committees and involved with the Greenport Business Improvement District “to help Greenport prosper. If anyone is going to directly hurt from Flying Point’s opening it is them, but other locally owned businesses as well. If the worst case scenario came true and Flying Point put One Love Beach out of business by selling a majority of the same stock items, Greenport would surely lose out. If this resident-owned business suffers we will not only be losing such a beautiful, committed store that is a gift to promoting the North Fork and all we want it to stand for, but we would also be losing Blake and Chris.”
She added, “Now is the time to create a village where stores can financially; stay open year round and support families because we are not competing against one another but instead, all working together.”
Blake and Chris Dowling said they hoped to focus only on the positive. “The support that we have felt by our amazing hometown has lifted us,” they said in a joint statement. “Greenport is a special place filled with incredible people. We thank each of you for your patronage and your friendship. It is a pleasure to live and work here.”
Zucchero responded to the protest in writing to SoutholdLOCAL: “My only comment is that I will never affect One Love Beach,” he said. “They have a way better location. Flying Point has been open since 1996 in Southampton and is a family owned and operated business. The feedback we’ve received from customers at our new Greenport location has been all positive. People have said they’re glad we’re here and the town needs a store like ours, which to me suggests that our store is quite different from One Love. We carry a very vast and different type of brands.”
Zucchero and his store managers said they would work with the Dowlings so each business would offer different items. “We have 800 brands to choose from,” Zucchero said.
Blake Dowling said she’d had a positive conversation with Zucchero and the store managers and believed a compromise could be reached.
One business owner asked if the village had a way to limit the number of similar businesses that opened; Village Attorney Joe Prokop said there was none. Another business owner asked if a large delivery van that had been used to unload merchandise would continue to park on Main Street, already a crowded street and called a “mirror knocker” road. Zucchero said the van was needed in Southampton.
Resident Amy Martin said landlords should also be held accountable and should inform tenants of the rules.
The board also reviewed Zucchero’s site plan and said outdoor plants and beach chairs, as well as any merchandise outside, should be on the site plan.
Prokop said a business that was open without approval could be fined for each day it was open.
Zucchero said he’d close until the meeting.
“Don’t forget,” said planning board member Pat Mundoz. She added, “This is a very good examples of the enforcement issues that Greenport has.”
To Zucchero, Mundoz said, “Start off on the right foot. This ‘aint the Hamptons.”
