On August 23, 2026, Peck's Market on Church Street opened for one day. Vegetables were set out for sale in front of the building, and inside, a purchase went through the register. Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer Ed Casazza described the scene to The New Pine Plains Herald. The store had been dark since late September 2025, after 103 years as the town's only grocery.
That one day of business gave the Church Street building something no other site in Pine Plains has. Anyone hoping to reopen it as a grocery can do so before August 23, 2027 without first going through the Planning Board review that would apply to a new grocery. Across town, a newly designed store on South Main Street is still working through the review process the Church Street building skipped.
What one day of sales preserved
The Peck's grocery is grandfathered because it is older than the town's zoning. Pine Plains adopted its zoning regulations in 2009, and a grocery that was already running is classified as a preexisting nonconforming use. That status can last indefinitely. Once the use has been discontinued for a full calendar year, it cannot be re-established.
That one-year limit had started to come due by the summer. In August, the Herald reported that Peck's was approaching the deadline. Planning Board Chair Michael Stabile explained that if the grandfathered status lapsed, any future grocery at the site would need a full site plan review, possibly with approvals from Dutchess County health officials as well.
Casazza settled the question in a letter dated September 2. He formally determined that Peck's "was legally open for business on August 23, 2026," which keeps the grocery use protected through August 23, 2027. The Herald reported that the decision means the owners of the Church Street property, or a buyer, could reopen a grocery before that date without the Planning Board review.
"Obviously, the town would like to see a market again," Casazza told the Herald. "I wanted to make it as easy for them to reopen as I possibly can."
The Herald's October 1 report contained no reopening plan or new tenant, and a member of the Peck family declined to comment. In November 2025, two people told The New Pine Plains Herald they had made offers to buy or rent the property for use as a grocery. No completed deal has been reported since.
The South Main plan is still in review
The second possible grocery is about half a mile down the road and is moving more slowly. At its April 8 meeting, the Pine Plains Planning Board reviewed a redevelopment of the former Deuel's Home Center property at 7723 South Main St., owned by Christopher Gumprecht. The same site already holds a cannabis dispensary, approved in December 2025 for the historic weigh station building.
The Herald's April account describes a plan to tear down three structures and build a grocery of about 9,000 square feet. An existing building would be restored with a new porch and become an ice cream shop. The plans show 55 parking spaces, stormwater infrastructure, new lighting and a new septic system. Board members also asked the applicant to add a sidewalk along the front of the property.
A brand-new grocery has to clear the full set of approvals, which is the process the Peck's building avoided. Here is where the project stood in the town's records:
- A variance. The planned grocery building is larger than the 6,000-square-foot limit, so it needs an area variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The April Planning Board minutes also require a new full environmental assessment form.
- Environmental review first. Town attorney Warren Replansky said that because the plan includes demolition and a new building, it needs a new SEQR review. The ZBA held its public hearing on the variance on May 26. According to the minutes of that meeting, the ZBA cannot issue a decision until the Planning Board finishes SEQR, so the hearing was left open.
- An operator. In April, the grocery operator was "still being negotiated with multiple operators," and no name or opening date was given.
The May hearing is the latest public step on the project that we could find. The agenda for the ZBA's September 22 meeting lists only a different applicant.
Church Street has a protected grocery use and an existing building, with no grocer announced. South Main has a site plan, 55 planned parking spaces and talks with several operators, with its variance hearing left open.
How the week's shopping works for now
Until one of those sites opens, food shopping in Pine Plains depends on three sources that each cover part of the need.
- Chaseholm Farm Store, 115 Chase Road. A self-serve store open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It accepts credit cards, cash or Venmo. It sells Chaseholm's own raw milk from its certified raw milk dairy, grass-fed yogurt, ground and stew beef, and whey-fed pork. Its cheeses include Camembert, Nimbus, Moonlight, Stella Vallis and Alpage from the Chaseholm Farm Creamery. The shelves also carry sourdough bread, cured meats, local honey and maple syrup, flour, beans, pasta and seasonal vegetables.
- Stewart's Shops #329, 7710 South Main Street. Open daily from 4:30 a.m. to midnight. It sells local milk, coffee, ice cream, pizza, sandwiches, soups and prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Heeler Farms' vegetable stand, 2054 Route 83. Listed as open from sunup to sundown. The farm notes that what's on the stand depends on the season, the weather and crop rotation, and suggests contacting the farm to ask what's available.
Each of these has limits, and Chaseholm's owner has said so herself. "We need a grocery store. I think that's essential for a small town," Sarah Chase told the Herald shortly after Peck's closed. "I won't ever really be a proper grocery store. I really wish that space could become a grocery store again."
A grocery also brings customers to the businesses near it, and that matters for Church Street. Storybook Café is right next door to Peck's, and Champêtre, the French restaurant, is on the same street. Champêtre owner Michel Jean described the link to the Herald. "It means a lot to have a grocery store in the village because some people come to get food there, and then at the same time they come to a restaurant," he said. "Now they go somewhere else for groceries, and they will go for another restaurant."
His point bears on which site reopens first. A grocery at 7723 South Main would bring traffic to the south end of town, next to the dispensary and the planned ice cream shop. A grocery reopened on Church Street would bring shoppers back to the block next to Storybook and Champêtre.
Dates to watch
These are the dates and decisions that will show which path moves first.
- August 23, 2027. The protected grocery use at Peck's runs through this date. If the store stays closed for another full calendar year, a future grocery there would face the full site plan review Stabile described.
- The Planning Board's SEQR determination on 7723 South Main. That decision has to come before the ZBA can rule on the lot-coverage variance.
- A named operator at either site. In April, the South Main operator was still under negotiation, and the Herald's October report named no new tenant for Church Street.
The Herald has covered each step, from the closing in November 2025 to the August deadline story to Casazza's October ruling. The town posts Planning Board and ZBA minutes and agendas on its website.
At Hudson Valley Team at Compass, we follow decisions like these because they shape daily life in the towns we serve. If you own property near Church Street or South Main and want to talk through what these approvals could mean for you, we'd welcome a Confidential Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
