Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees unanimously approved a permit for a French-style bakery to open at the former site of Leah’s Bistro at its meeting Wednesday.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said the bakery, which will be located at 105 Middle Neck Road, is a welcomed addition to the village.
“I think it’s terrific you’re coming to us with a bakery,” Celender said. “We’re missing a bakery in town.”
Alexander Levine, owner of Levine’s Patisserie and Café, said he previously owned and operated a bakery on Great Neck Road, but closed the business because he said the bakery was not in a good location.
“There was no parking there,” Levine said. “This will be a much better location.”
The bakery will be located in close proximity to the Gold Coast Arts Center and the Bow Tie Cinemas movie theater.
Commissioner of Public Services Michael Sweeney said at the meeting the previous owners of the building had moved several appliances from the kitchen “through, for lack of a better term, midnight movers.”
“To the extent of what is left of that, we don’t know,” Sweeney said.
Leah’s Bistro, the previous business at the location, closed less than a year after opening.
Efforts to reach Alex Pollack, the owner of Leah’s Bistro, were unavailing.
Levine will have to submit an application for any appliances he wants to use in the bakery to the Nassau County Fire Marshall’s office, Sweeney said.
Yussef Samba, the chef of the bakery, said there would not be a need for many large appliances, as most of the baking would be done off the premises.
Samba also said the bakery would be acting as a wholesale business, with a delivery service for its customers.
Samba’s comments raised concerns over the number of incoming and outgoing deliveries at the location.
Levine said Samba “misspoke” and that the location would maintain a primarily retail operation.
Levine said if the business succeeds then they would consider a wholesale operation outside the village.
“We’re not here to bother the neighborhood,” Lavine said. “We hope to succeed.”
Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen asked Levine to maintain a “primarily retail” operation at the location and said if trustees had reason to believe he switched to wholesale, they could ask him back to review his permit.
“If we find that people are complaining, we’ll bring you back here,” Rosen said.
