Planet Fitness, HomeSense to take former Stony Brook supermarket space

A 47,250-square-foot shopping center in Stony Brook that has been empty since Waldbaum’s left it in 2015 will soon be taken over by Planet Fitness and HomeSense, according to Newsday. Workers are currently sectioning off 18,000 square feet for the gym, 27,250 square feet for the home furnishings shop and another 12,000 square feet that has yet to be leased from Valley Stream-based Lighthouse Realty Partners, which manages the property. An AMC Loews on the site will also soon get an $8 million tuneup. HomeSense is owned by TJX Companies, a department store giant that also operates the TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods retail chains. TJX opened two other HomeSense locations last year in Commack and Riverhead and the company is also planning to launch a TJ Maxx in Port Washington North this spring and open a Marshall next year at Bridgehampton Commons. The move to rework the former Waldbaum’s space in Stony Brook comes amid a growing Tri-State area trend of retail landlords seeking solutions for the husks of big box stores slain by online competitors. The Waldbaum’s in Stony Brook was one of 51 local grocery stories that closed when their parent, the now-defunct Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Discount retail operators like TJX had once shied away from pricier places like Nassau County, but are now seeing opportunities in the aftermath of the big box breakdown. [Newsday]