Great Neck: A place where people from all over Long Island would come to shop and dine at some of Long Island’s best establishments. The town that used to be full of thriving business and teeming streets has been replaced with desolate store fronts and empty sidewalks. Great Neck has seen over a dozen businesses close in the past two years, including the beloved 16 Handles. Those businesses are replaced with nothing but “For Rent” signs. This is where Destination Great Neck comes in. What began as a Facebook effort to facilitate conversation about Great Neck has become something much more: Destination Great Neck.

The Destination Great Neck social media pages encourage residents to “choose Great Neck.” Destination Great Neck inspires the community to celebrate Great Neck by shopping locally. As a part of their social media presence, they promote local events, such as a Lunar New Year Celebration at the Andrew Stergiopoulos Ice Rink on Tuesday, February 1. The page also posts images of local restaurants, showcasing Great Neck’s plethora of dining establishments and encouraging Great Neck residents to eat there. Destination Great Neck provides free advertising on social media for a variety of Great Neck businesses, including clothing stores, doctors offices, real estate businesses, dance studios, gyms, hair salons, flower shops, and furniture stores. 

In addition to promoting local business and events, Destination Great Neck also hosts their own events. One of their most successful events was Great Neck’s first annual Gatsby Fest, a music festival held in the center of town on October 17, 2021. In honor of the festival, Middle Neck Road was named “Great Gatsby Way.” Because this event was so successful, a second Gatsby Fest is already in the works for June 2022.  

The people behind Destination Great Neck want to make Great Neck a relevant place to spend time and money. To accomplish this, they created a pop up store, The Market, located at 73 Middle Neck Rd. The store, which opened on November 28, 2021, was originally marketed as a holiday shopping spot and currently offers Valentine’s Day products. The Market includes a variety of vendors, with products such as clothing, tablecloths, jewelry, accessories, and so much more. Open every day with plans for further expansion, The Market is in the works to become a staple shopping spot in Great Neck.        

Destination Great Neck is the “booster club” that Great Neck needs in order to support local businesses and allow them to thrive. To create this feeling, Janet Esagoff, founder of Destination Great Neck, emphasizes that “we have to celebrate what makes Great Neck different, what makes it unique; everyone has to feel that.”

You can find Destination Great Neck on Instagram @greatneckbiz, and on Facebook @Destination: Great Neck.