Charlie and Jenn Mastropaolo, co-owners of Red Maple Market in Roslyn, said they want “to bring the varied sophistication of [food and drink] in New York City to Long Island.”
Describing Red Maple as “a premium quality speciality food store,” Jenn said the market offers customers “restaurant quality food [they can take home.]”
Located at 1085 Northern Boulevard, the 3,800 square foot market features a bakery, a deli, a butcher and a full service cheese case.
“[We have] products that aren’t readily available anywhere else,” Jenn said. “[We want our customers to] experience things they didn’t know exist.”
Red Maple sells water from the Catskill Mountains, Fonte coffee from Seattle, Ample Hills Ice Cream from Brooklyn, and even soda from Russia.
“[We] try to bring new and unique items,” Charlie said. “We wanted to bring a food hall type atmosphere.”
Since Red Maple is a small, independently run company, Charlie and Jenn said it gives them “a better eye for quality” than larger chain grocery stores.
“[We’re] trying to change it up,” Charlie said. “[We want to] bring a lot of different [products.]”
Charlie and Jenn, both Oyster Bay residents, had been working side-by-side for an importing food marketing company out of East Norwich for 12 years prior to opening Red Maple.
Jenn said she and Charlie had the idea to open Red Maple for almost three years, but it took them until January to find a space for the market.
On Nov.7, Red Maple held its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony that was attended by state Sen. Jack Martins, Town of North Hempstead Clerk Wayne Wink and members of the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce.
“We had a nice turnout,” Jenn said.
Red Maple had been open for a week and half prior to the grand opening ceremony in order to make sure the operations of the store were running smoothly.
“[We wanted] to let the wrinkles out of the suit,” Charlie said.
Charlie said that since Red Maple has opened, he and Jenn have been at the store seven days a week.
“This [market] is our baby,” Charlie said. “When it cries we have to take care of it.”
Business has been good so far, and Red Maple has even seen a spike in guests over the past few days, Jenn said.
Despite only having one current location, Jenn said she and Charlie would be “happy to open one or two more [locations] on Long Island.”
“[We would need] to keep an eye on quality and maintain [our interaction with guests,]” Jenn said. “Any [more locations] and we would lose our mom and pop feel.”
Charlie said customers can look at Red Maple as a “food concierge.”
Customers can come in and ask for a specific item that the store does not carry, Charlie said, and he and Jenn will order it for them.
Samples are also an important facet of Red Maple.
Jenn said customers will always see different displays containing samples, which allows them to try a variety of new products.
“[Red Maple] is a good, wholesome, fresh and unique food experience,” Charlie said. “[It] is a location that the consumer can enjoy without giving up quality.”
Red Maple Market is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
