For many Long Islanders, a trip to Dairy Barn’s red silo for the last gallon of milk we need or the dozen eggs we forgot is an exercise in home town nostalgia. But with the recent closure of the Babylon and North Babylon locations, many residents have wondered if the Dairy Barn experience would soon become just a quaint memory.
The chain, founded by a struggling dairy farmer in East Northport, became the ultimate in convenience: simply drive around the block and get the staples without getting out of your car. But decades since the first store opened in 1961, shoppers have increasingly turned toward grabbing their milk in big box stores, gas stations, and Dairy Barn has struggled. Now 19 stores remain open on Long Island but increasingly, they are closing or being bought by a new company called The Barn.
Babylon Village Patch spoke to a representative from The Barn, which added the Deer Park Avenue Dairy Barn as their 25th Long Island store in March. Keeping the trademark red colors and barn graphics as their predecessor, the store plans to sell the same basics but add newer, healthier options.
Aegina Angeliade, a spokesperson for the Long Island City-based company, reports that “like Dairy Barn, we offer all the grocery basics like milk, bread, cheese, eggs etc. We also have similar or better sales.”
The Barn has newly started carrying healthier convenience items, according to their website.
“Our intention is to offer customers options for on-the-go quick fixes. Our stores are stocked with 20-ounce sodas, Red Bull, water bottles, juices, Snapple and iced coffee and iced tea sold by the cup. We have also brought in buttered rolls, bagels, muffins, cinnamon buns, pound cake slices, date nut bread, croissants and other baked goods,” explains Angeliade.
“Because we are committed to offering healthy options, our newest items include sliced apples, Chobani yogurt, Special K bars, protein shakes and hummus and pretzel packs. Organic milk and eggs are next.”
Dairy Barn has 19 locations left on Long Island, but in addition to the Babylon location, the North Babylon Dairy Barn store on Route 231 has also changed hands and is now operating as The Barn.
The Barn will be offering free hummus and chips samples at the Babylon store on April 13th from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
