Harbor Shop Convenience Store Slated To Open In Sag Harbor Next Week

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Harbor Shop, the new convenience store that will replace the 7-Eleven in Sag Harbor later this month.

Owner Adam Potter said he expected the store to open on July 23.

“The produce will be as good, if not better, than what was previously there,” he said. “It will be the same pricing, or lower, than what was previously there. You’ll still be able to get your 99-cent cup of coffee.”

He added that the store’s initial hours would be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and would be expanded as warranted.

On Tuesday, the new store was already partially stocked, with packaged goods on shelves covered by plastic sheets, as a work crew installed ceiling tiles.

Mr. Potter is the chairman of Friends of Bay Street, the not-for-profit organization that purchased the Water Street Shops complex last year as a future home for Bay Street Theater.

Although many shops and other businesses in the building are continuing on month-to-month leases, 7-Eleven, which had anchored the site for more than 25 years, closed its doors on April 30 when its lease expired.

Representatives of 7-Eleven would not comment on the store’s sudden closing, but members of the Schiavoni family, who own a parcel across the street from Water Street Shops, have said the chain was interested in moving into an as-yet-unbuilt store on their property.

Mr. Potter promised that a locally owned convenience store would replace the national chain store as soon as the site could be renovated and a staff hired, although an initial target date of the Memorial Day weekend proved to be too ambitious.

He added that the Harbor Shop would carry products made by the South Fork Bakery, which provides employment opportunities for adults with special needs, and was working on an arrangement to employ some of its staff.

Mr. Potter has come under scrutiny as he and groups he is tied with have purchased, or been rumored to have purchased, a number of commercial properties in the village in addition to the Water Street Shops building. He has said those purchases were largely necessary to provide new spaces to rent to tenants facing eviction from the Water Street Shops building, but many fear the purchases are part of a larger development scheme.

“I’m committed to serving the community,” Mr. Potter insisted this week, “and having a welcoming convenience store will be part of that in the short term.”