Business

After 43 years, Cookery Dock in Greenport closes its doors

Arlene Marvin in her store Cookery Dock, which she has owned for 44 year at 132 Main Street in Greenport. Her customers tell her their favorite thing about the place are the antique cooking equipment she has on display on the side wall. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
Arlene Marvin’s customers have told her their favorite thing about her store is the wall display of antique cooking equipment. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

From the time it opened in 1972, the Cookery Dock in Greenport has been the go-to place for North Fork customers in search of hard-to-find kitchen tools.

“People will come in and say ‘I need…’ or ‘My mother had…’ and I’ll say, ‘Yes, I know what you’re talking about,’ ” owner Arlene Marvin said.

Unfortunately for those shoppers, that will change April 10, when Ms. Marvin closes her Main Street store. Its inventory of utensils, pots and bakeware is currently on sale, she said.

“I’m very sorry to be closing, but I’ve had some serious health issues this year,” said Ms. Marvin, 84, of New Suffolk. “I’m just now recovering and decided this must be the time.”

Lido, a store specializing in what owner Heidi Kelso called “bohemian luxury,” will take over Ms. Marvin’s storefront April 15. The resortwear, jewelry and accessories shop, which formerly operated as a seasonal business at 119 Main St. from 2012 to October 2014, has an opening date of May 1.

“When I found out Arlene was thinking it was time to retire, I went to her and told her I was interested,” said Ms. Kelso, a television producer who lives in New York City and Orient. “We knew Marc [LaMaina, the owner of Lucharito’s] was expanding into this space and that we would have to move.”

Ms. Marvin, who opened Cookery Dock 43 years ago — “before big-box stores and online shopping,” she said — has watched Greenport change over the decades from a rural fishing village to an up-and-coming tourist attraction.

“There’s a lot more tourism and traffic at the moment,” she said. “It felt more like a neighborhood [in the 1970s]. More people knew one another.”

At one point four decades ago, Cookery Dock briefly had locations in Southampton, Port Jefferson and Sayville, Ms. Marvin said. Ultimately, she decided to keep just the Greenport shop open, she said, because “it kept me pretty busy and it was local so I enjoyed it more.”

After so many years in the business, Ms. Marvin admitted she doesn’t know how she’ll spend her impending retirement.

“That’s a little scary,” she said with a laugh. “I guess travel, play more Bridge — whatever.

“It’s sad,” she continued. “And as people react to my announcement and they say ‘Oh no,’ I get even sadder, but it’s time.”

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