Portuguese Imports Store Applies for Missing Food Permit

For years diners at the restaurant on Jericho Turnpike have taken food home with them. Business for the restaurant was so good that owner Manuel Carvahlo also opened up an imports store so that diners – many of which are of Portuguese descent – could also get items from their native land quickly and easily.

When he decided to purchase a warehouse adjacent to the East Second Street location to expand the retail space and began selling food items, there was just one problem: there were no permits filed in order to allow the retail space to do so.

Carvahlo came before the on November 9 to rectify the lack of permits at the warehouse space, which is located at 42 East Second St.

“Common sense I guess would dictate rather than what the code says that within a manufacturing district where you’re permitted to do things like manufacture and printing presses and all these kinds of things, someone would think that having a retail spaces is less onerous of a use,” attorney Marco Silva, who represented Carvahlo at the meeting, said.

The retail space currently stocks  mostly dry goods and “hard” items such as dishes and flatware as well as specialty kitchenware, canned and dry goods, frozen foods and cured meats. The store does sell prepackaged meats and plans on selling fish in the back of the store.

“There are a lot of unique things imported from Portugal and elsewhere,” Silva said.

The previous occupant of the warehouse was a machine shop, which had been “neglected for many years,” Silva said, adding that Carvahlo had come in and beautified the building. “It represents a significant lesser impact than nearly any automatic permitted use.” Carvahlo is in the process of obtaining the appropriate permits concerning the fish and fresh meats for the store’s rear section.

No cooking would be done on premises and expired items would be stored in a freezer until pickup, which occurs twice a week via a private carter. The hours of operation for the retail store would be from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week and the warehouse would run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Deliveries to the warehouse would be made during the business day. A total of five employees would work at the facility. Currently only three parking spaces exist in the front of the location.

“I like the idea that the commercial area that you’re in is being gentrified and I think that the steps that you’ve taken have beautified the area,” Trustee Lawrence Werther said. “It will only add to our village.”

The application was referred to the Nassau County Planning Commission, giving them 30 days to weigh in before returning to the village board for the final decision. Village attorney John Spellman also stated that the application also be made so that the village board could approve the exterior architectural as it currently exists.