The Market, Greenport health food store and cafe, to close after 38 years

A longtime Greenport health food and supplement store will close after nearly four decades in business.

The Market, which also has a cafe, announced Tuesday on social media it would close this Saturday after 38 years.

In "a love letter" addressed to Greenport and the North Fork, owner Shelley Scoggin said: "You humble me with your beauty, you energize me with your spirit, you comfort me with a sense of community that is a privilege to experience.

"Thank you to everyone who has either shopped or worked here at The Market over the past 38 years. Thank you for allowing me to fulfill my vision of offering healthy food and groceries to our community. Thank you to my family who have shared this store as an additional family member we have always had to care for. I will be forever grateful."

Since 1987, The Market has carried organic and specialty foods, including prepared dishes, plus home goods and cleaning items, according to its website.

Scoggin told Newsday the store would have a final sale for those who want a piece of Market nostalgia on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"We have a very large space," Scoggin said on Thursday. "Our store is full of miscellaneous and custom items."

They include many vintage and antique pieces such as stools from previous owners, chairs from an out-of-business tea company, a wagon wheel, a 12-foot American flag, and pieces and displays made by local artists.

"It's really quite been a catch-all for ... cool stuff that we've come upon over the years," Scoggin said.

Scoggin, 66, of Cutchogue, said she started the business at age 27 in Southold at a time when health food stores and organic produce were not household terms.

"I was starting a family and I wanted the option to give organic produce and groceries to my children," Scoggin said. "I don't even know that there were any organic farm stands back then."

Scoggin moved the business to Front Street in 2007.

In 2013, the HBO series "Girls" filmed inside the store and other locations in Greenport.

In her nearly four decades of business, Scoggin is grateful to see children grow and come into the store with their own children, she said.

"That means a lot to me, that they have good memories of this," she said. 

The growing popularity and accessibility of health foods, she said, has made her products less of a rarity and it was time to move on. 

"When I first started, you couldn't get any of these products anywhere else ... you couldn't even get a rice cake, but now it's in the supermarkets, and people have figured out how to order online," she said. 

Calling art her "first love," the collage artist said she was looking forward to creating more and spending time with her grandchildren. 

"It's time," Scoggin said. " I want to enjoy another chapter — a different chapter."