In Bridgehampton, where can you buy a roll of tape, a bag of groceries or a coffee at 9:30 on a Tuesday night in November? Until this month, Main Street had no answer. The hamlet's daily business has always followed the light, and in late fall that means the dinner rooms, then darkness.
As of October, the answer is 2102 Montauk Highway. Dan's Papers reports that Target at Bridgehampton Commons is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. That one schedule changes the shape of the hamlet's day more than any opening this year. The late hours now sit at the highway end of Bridgehampton. Main Street, the vineyards and the farm stands keep everything that happens while the sun is up.
Two Years Without an Anchor
The building has a long tenure behind it. Kmart held the space from November 1999, and 27east reported that it closed for good in October 2024. For two off-seasons the Commons ran without its largest tenant. In the same story, 27east noted that Target's nearest location had been Riverhead.
The new store fills about 90,000 square feet. It has a Starbucks inside, groceries, adult beverages, Order Pickup, Drive Up and same-day delivery. The press and VIP ribbon cutting was on Tuesday, October 6. Dan's Papers described a parking lot "jam packed with cars" and a Starbucks line running to the back of the store. The shingled wall out front carries a sign that reads "Welcome Home Hamptons." According to 27east, the store employs about 140 people, which makes it one of the larger year-round workplaces on this stretch of Montauk Highway.
One piece may still be on its way. In its opening story, 27east wrote that the in-store CVS Pharmacy was "slated to open next month." For pharmacy hours, check with the store directly at 631-709-7053.
The Closing-Time Ladder
The thesis shows up most clearly when you line up the posted closing times from the businesses' own sites. Off-season hours can shift from week to week, so confirm before you go. In posted order, the hamlet winds down like this:
- 5 p.m. Loaves & Fishes Lifestyle, the Cookshop at 2266 Montauk Highway, is open year-round, daily from 10 to 5.
- 6 p.m. Bridgehampton Candy Kitchen at 2391 Montauk Highway posts 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day and says hours may change. Round Swamp Farm's Bridgehampton Market at 97 School Street also closes at 6, open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30. Channing Daughters Winery at 1927 Scuttlehole Road pours daily from 11 to 6.
- 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble, the Commons' other long-standing tenant, closes at 7 Monday through Saturday and at 6 on Sunday. Just over the line in Sagaponack, the Wölffer Estate tasting room at 139 Sagg Road is open year-round and closes at 7 Monday through Thursday.
- 9 to 10 p.m. On weekends, dinner keeps Main Street lit. Bobby Van's at 2393 Montauk Highway serves until 9 Sunday through Thursday and until 10 on Friday and Saturday. Dopo Il Ponte at 2402 Montauk Highway serves until 9 or 9:30 later in the week.
- 11 p.m. Bobby Van's bar runs from noon to 11 p.m. daily, which puts the hamlet's last call on Main Street at the same hour Target closes its doors on the highway.
Most retail and daytime food on Main Street is done by 6. Once Barnes & Noble closes at 7, the only businesses still open are restaurants and a bar, plus a single store, and that store is on the highway.
Tuesday Shows the Split Most Clearly
The schedules split furthest early in the week. Dopo Il Ponte is closed Monday and Tuesday. Under its posted Fall Schedule 2026, the Loaves & Fishes restaurant serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5:30. Breakfast runs daily from 8 to 10:30, and the Inn stays open year-round. The Loaves & Fishes Foodstore, at 50 Sagg Main Road in Sagaponack, closes on Tuesdays. Almond, at 1 Ocean Road, is open Monday through Saturday and closed Sundays this fall, according to 27east.
Round Swamp opens on Tuesday morning and Candy Kitchen serves breakfast, so a Tuesday in November still starts on Main Street. It also ends earlier there than any other night, and the gap after dark is the one the Commons now covers.
Across the Highway, a Quarter Century of Plans
The empty Kmart box was one of two long stories at this intersection. The other is across Montauk Highway, on 13 acres the Konner family has owned for decades. 27east has traced its history from a shopping-center plan that Barnes & Noble's CEO Leonard Riggio, a Bridgehampton resident, led. That plan fell apart. A mixed-use proposal followed and was withdrawn in 2016.
In its most recent report on the parcel, 27east describes a revised proposal before the Southampton Town Planning Board. It would create nine lots with 10,000-square-foot buildings in place of six larger ones, leave 35 percent of the land uncleared, and add proposed changes to the traffic signal at the Commons entrance. That is a plan under review, with no approval reported. Developer Greg Konner gave 27east a measured view of what comes next:
"It sounds glamorous to have 90,000 square feet. Just build it and they will come. But that is not real."
That figure matches the size of the store that has now opened across the road. For a big format to work here, a tenant has to commit before anything goes up. At the Commons, one finally has.
Daylight Belongs to the Hamlet
Main Street holds on to almost everything that happens before dark, and in November that covers most of the calendar. The Bridgehampton Museum has a full month planned:
- Saturday, November 7, 5 to 6 p.m. "The World According to Irving," co-sponsored with Canio's.
- Friday, November 13, 5 to 6 p.m. "The Gathering: Grants for Artists," with Patty Eljaiek of the Huntington Arts Council.
- Saturday, November 14, 5 to 7 p.m. The opening of "East End Veterans Voices," an exhibition presented by USA Warrior Stories.
Earlier that day, the Hampton Library's November calendar lists "Easy Fall Eats" from 2 to 3 p.m. On November 5 it lists "Preserving Long Island's Waterways with the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers." Every museum event ends by 7, and after that hour the Commons has the only retail still open.
The farm lanes keep their own late-season hours. The maze at Fairview Farm at Mecox is open on weekends through November 8. Mecox Bay Dairy is taking Thanksgiving turkey preorders for 2026. On Fridays and Saturdays, Wölffer's tasting room stays open until 8. None of this calendar has moved because of Target, and the store's 11 p.m. close doesn't compete with any of it.
Deborah has watched the Commons, Main Street and the lanes south of the highway change over more than three decades. If you'd like a sense of how changes like this one play out block by block, Deborah Srb is glad to talk it through over coffee, whichever end of the hamlet you'd rather meet at.
