Portokali, A New Organic Market, To Replace 7-Eleven On Sheepshead Bay Road

It looks like “organic” is the business trend of the season, as a second organic-minded store is popping up a few doors down from an organic kitchenette that we revealed last week.

Signs went up over the weekend for Portokali, an organic gourmet market at 1509 Sheepshead Bay Road. The business will replace the short-lived 7-Eleven that never reopened after Superstorm Sandy destroyed it in October 2012.

The windows have been re-papered, and passersby have told Sheepshead Bites they’ve seen work going on inside for about two weeks.

Portokali is Turkish for “orange in,” which explains the presence of the fruit in the signage. The owners are Turkish, according to the property’s managing agent, Steven Blackburn, of Premiere Properties, though he could not put us in touch in time for this article. (By the way, our translation comes via Google; I’m sure our readers will correct us – sternly – if it’s mistaken.)

The store should be open in about a month, Blackburn said. 7-Eleven remains the primary tenant, with Portokali as the sub-letter.

It’ll be the third organic business on Sheepshead Bay Road, and, as far as organics, will probably be more in line with Forces of Nature at 1608 and 1614 Sheepshead Bay Road  than with the still unnamed kitchenette coming to the corner of East 15th Street and Sheepshead Bay Road (just a few storefronts away).

The plans – for both new organic businesses – are great news for that stretch of Sheepshead Bay Road. As two large swaths of vacant real estate across from the subway station get filled, we’ll now have a more welcoming view when we step out off the train.