North Hampton’s Village Shopping Center: New stores, golf and more transform plaza
NORTH HAMPTON — Deny’s Beer and Smoke, a new convenience store, is opening in a long-vacant Route 1 storefront, bringing more change to North Hampton’s Village Shopping Center.
Deny’s brings new life to the empty 2,000-square-foot store that was once home to Marshall Miller’s Book Outlet, which closed in the spring of 2020. Seen as a huge loss at the time to readers who patronized the shop for decades, the space has been empty ever since.
Also new at the plaza at 69 Lafayette Road is O’Reilly Auto Parts and Coach Club. They join the NH Liquor & Wine Outlet, Kitchen Gallery, Heavy Mettle Jiu Jitsu and Ronaldo's Restaurant, which recently was sold to new owners.
Kenny Patel opened Deny’s last week after spending weeks placing orders, arranging showcases and stocking shelves.
“It will be a convenience store,” Patel said. “We will sell groceries, all kinds of beer – imported, domestic and craft beer – and smoking items, including cigars. And we will sell lottery tickets.”
Patel, who recently moved to North Hampton, named the store after his father and plans to run it along with members of his family.
The convenience store will carry needed household basics, he said, things like milk, eggs and bread, along with other staples. Patel said he’s also interested in hearing from customers about other items they’d like him to carry.
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Indoor country club for golfers
Last fall, Rico Riciputi brought his innovative vision of an indoor golf facility to Village Shopping Center when he opened Coach Club in October. The veteran PGA instructor offers monthly memberships and lessons at the site to golf enthusiasts who don’t want to waste the winter spending it without a golf club in their hands.
“Everything you can basically get at a country club inside,” said Riciputi, who was previously director of instruction at the Wentworth by the Sea Country Club for seven years.
The facility offers golf simulators, a 600-square-foot practice green, lessons, club fitting and regripping. It also has a liquor license to offer some country club offerings, like conference rooms for private golf clinics and events.
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O’Reilly Auto Parts expands with new North Hampton store
Perhaps one of the biggest changes to the plaza came a bit more than a year ago when O’Reilly Auto Parts came to town to fill the void created following the January 2019 closing of Philbrick’s Fresh Market after 9 years.
The large corner storefront remained vacant for a while before O’Reilly added North Hampton to its four other locations in the region, Stratham, Portsmouth, Epping and York, Maine.
The store sells automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment, and accessories.
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New owners take the helm at Ronaldo’s Italian Restaurant
Simultaneous with Patel opening Deny’s, Ronaldo’s Italian Restaurant is under new management.
Paula Stanca, long known locally for her work at the 401 Tavern and La Bec Rouge, along with her brother-in-law Ciprian “Chip” Jackson recently purchased the popular eatery from Don Folckemer.
The duo have become the fourth owners of Ronaldo’s since the restaurant opened in 1996.
“We want to bring back the Ronaldo’s that used to be like the famous Ronaldo’s,” Stanca said.
Stanca and Jackson have been running Ronaldo’s for just over a week now with a menu that features new items like sea bass, house-made gnocchi, spaghetti alla bolognese and mozzarella alla Caprese salad. Entrees are now being served with sides like rosemary potatoes, and desserts include Italian cheesecake and tiramisu made in-house.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: North Hampton’s Village Shopping Center: New retail stores and more
