While some people go to the Hamptons to take a break from the hustle and bustle of New York City others are buying $400 melons.
Farm & Forage Market in Southampton, New York, is one of the many luxury grocery stores in the area, trading specifically in specialty items, resulting in large demand from both celebrities and influencers.
One of the store’s items is a musk melon imported from Japan. “It is super delicate,” the store’s owner, Jonathan Bernard, told The New York Times.
“Instead of five or six melons on a vine, they’ll cut off flowers and just grow one. All the sweetness and energy go into that item.”Just one of those melons sells for as much as $400. The store also sells more traditional luxury items including caviar and truffles.
The Real Housewives of New York alum Bethany Frankel mentioned the melons in one of her Instagram posts last month where she referenced “a situation going on in the Hamptons — savage gourmet market wars.”
In addition to Farm & Forage Market there is also the Red Horse Market in the luxurious area of East Hampton, New York, which has brought in famous faces such as Martha Stewart, Alec Baldwin, and the Kardashians.
Last year, the gourmet grocery store sold a pound of lobster salad for $120.
Owners of the deli say “only some” customers were unwilling to pay that price. “It’s because of the quality we’ve got to charge these prices,” store manager Christian Pineda told the New York Post at the time.
“For our customers, they’re primarily focused on quality. The local quality is what they want, especially with our meats and seafoods.”
The gourmet Red Horse Market was opened in the early 90s by former advertising executive Jerry Della Femina and the late David Silver, the founder and CEO of Regency Home Fashions.
The price of one pound of lobster salad from the gourmet deli is just under half the amount spent on groceries per week by the average American family — $270.21 — according to a study by HelpAdvisor analyzing the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey from January 2024.
In 2023, the Seafood Shop in Wainscott – located in East Hampton – went viral online after a customer posted a small tub of its avocado dip being sold for $29.51.
