The owners of the Shop Delight supermarket in Great Neck Plaza said Monday they were considering withdrawing their application to operate a butcher shop three stores down on Welwyn Road because of the lengthy conditional-use permit application process.
Mike Karam and Edward Yakupov, Shop Delight’s owners, said that instead of the butcher shop, they were considering filing a new application to open a commissary in the same location.
“We did not think we would get approved,” Karam said. “So we might go with a new application.”
Yakupov and his attorney, Paul Bloom, first appeared at a Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 6 seeking approval for a conditional-use permit to “relocate” the supermarket’s existing meat department into an empty storefront on Welwyn Road.
The proposal was almost immediately met with criticism by trustees, who cited consistent permit violations at the supermarket related to food truck deliveries and safety concerns.
At the Feb. 3 meeting, Village Attorney Richard Gabriele asked Bloom to return to the board with documentation addressing the trustees’ concerns regarding the ownership of the proposed butcher shop and Shop Delight, food delivery information including frequency of deliveries, identity of deliverers, what they deliver, delivery times and size of trucks and if Yakupov would fund a code enforcement officer either through the store or through the village.
Though Bloom provided some documentation to the board, trustees said, what was submitted did not satisfy their concerns and ownership details remained unaddressed.
At the April 6 board meeting, Karam told the board they were not majority owners of the butcher shop operation and that he and Yakupov sought and found professional butchers to partner with them and operate the store full-time.
Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen said if Yakupov and Karam were not majority partners of the butcher shop then the board would prefer the majority partners to appear in front of it before deciding on whether to grant the conditional-use permit.
“If you’re telling us that the people who are going to control the new operation are not [Karam] and [Yakupov], I think we cannot continue to hear this until these gentlemen come before us,” Rosen said. “And we have to make a determination as to what they’re going to tell us.”
Now five months since the application was first presented to the board, Karam and Yakupov said the lengthy process has taken its toll on them and their wallets.
Yakupov said they have been paying $10,000 a month in rent for the empty storefront in anticipation of receiving conditional-use permit approval.
While Shop Delight’s owners said they were considering withdrawing the application, Village Clerk-Treasurer Patricia O’Byrne said they were still expected to appear before the trustees at Wednesday’s board meeting and the village has not been led to believe otherwise.
O’Byrne also said that no new applications had been submitted to the village.
Although trustees were critical of the proposed butcher shop operation, some of Shop Delight’s shoppers said they supported the new store.
One shopper, who requested to remain anonymous, said the butcher shop would be more convenient for shoppers and employees.
“The meat department is very tiny in here and if you want something special they have to bring it up from downstairs,” she said. “I’m sure it would be much easier for the staff and customers at a separate store.”
Another shopper, who also requested to remain anonymous, said moving the meat department to a different location would create more room for customers to move around the store.
Efforts to reach Bloom for comment on the status of the proposed butcher shop application and if a new application would be submitted were unavailing.
