MILLERTON — After more than a year of renovations, construction delays and growing speculation about its future, the long-awaited supermarket planned for the Millerton Square Plaza is now expected to open by Thanksgiving, according to owners Chris and Kim Choe.
The Choes, who purchased Millerton Square Plaza on Route 44 in December 2024, said the project is entering its final stages after a series of construction delays. With some renovations complete, they now expect the supermarket to open before the holiday season.
The couple, who bought the store from Joseph Trotta, plan to stock locally-sourced produce, meat, and seafood from Boston and New York City. Originally planned to open by June 2025, the Choes pushed back their estimated opening last summer to October 2025 and eventually said the timeline was unclear last fall.
The recent announcement comes amid mounting questions about the fate of both the Millerton supermarket and the Sharon Farm Market in Sharon, Connecticut, which the Choes also own and operate.
Their Millerton plans received approval from planning and building officials in the Town of North East in June 2025. Chris Choe said interior renovations at the store are nearing completion.
A new business partner is joining the project, although Choe declined to identify the individual citing ongoing negotiations.
Completed renovations include a new roof and HVAC upgrades. Remaining work includes new flooring, a replacement ceiling, parking lot reconfiguration and storefront upgrades, Choe said.
Choe attributed much of the delay to the demands of another grocery venture in New Haven, Connecticut, which he said the family plans to sell in the coming weeks.
“Driving, I lose three hours every day,” Choe said, adding that selling the business will allow him to focus on completing the Millerton supermarket and planned upgrades at Sharon Farm Market.
Construction debris and old freezers still litter the site of the Millerton supermarket.Photo by Nathan Miller
Rumors also called into question the fate of the Sharon Farm Market.
Jam Food Shop, a business that serves prepared foods and sandwiches that operates a space within the Sharon Farm Market, will be leaving the market at the end of September.
That move — coupled with sparse inventory on shelves — has fueled speculation about Sharon Farm Market’s future.
“We’re going to fix the store,” Choe said, describing plans to renovate the Sharon Farm Market’s interior and introduce a coffee shop and juice bar. He insisted the grocery store will not be closing, and renovations will begin after Jam’s departure at the end of September.
Choe said Jam Food Shop’s departure presents an opportunity to reconfigure the market’s prepared-food operation.
A new focus going forward will be cutting prices on prepared foods, improving and expanding available organic produce and making a foray into delivery with services such as Instacart and DoorDash.
News that the Millerton supermarket may finally open this year was met with cautious optimism by residents Sunday, May 31.
A.J. Day, a Millerton resident who said he moved to the village in 2008 with his parents, said his family has been anxiously awaiting a new supermarket in town.
Day said the family travels to Danbury to shop for groceries at Trader Joe’s for most of their needs, but often makes quick trips to LaBonne’s Market in Salisbury, Connecticut, or the Sharon Farm Market for immediate needs.
“My parents [and I] both want to see a place there,” Day said. “My parents were a little uneasy not having a place there for a while.”
Shannon Tyree-Brown and her daughters, Cassidy and Addison Brown, said they were encouraged by the latest timeline while acknowledging frustration over the prolonged vacancy.
“It’s kind of been depressing just sitting vacant for so long,” Tyree-Brown said. “Unfortunately, the other options didn’t stick.”
Despite the dismay, Tyree-Brown and her daughters are supportive of the effort and hopeful it will serve the community soon.
Nearby business owners are also eager to see the supermarket open.
The owners of Pasture Kitchen, a restaurant that occupies the former McDonald’s building on Route 44 adjacent to the supermarket plaza, are also looking forward to the Millerton market’s eventual opening.
Austin Cornell, who founded Pasture Kitchen, expects his restaurant to see a boost once the supermarket opens. He described the supermarket as a potential bridge between the Village of Millerton and businesses farther down Route 44 beyond the village boundary.
“I feel like we’re removed from the village,” Cornell said.
While locals are largely supportive of the venture, some residents are skeptical that the Millerton store will open in the fall of 2026.
“Chris has said that for years now,” said longtime Sharon resident Mike Rand. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
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Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
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