Shop request on behalf of Mastic/Shirley

After living here six months or so, these are the shops that I feel are sorely lacking in this area. Happily we have a Home Depot and many excellent nurseries/garden centers, and several Targets within easy driving distance so am not complaining about those. There are plenty of farm stands for seasonal fruit, vegetables and flowers--at least in the warmer months. And it's OK Borders and Barnes/Noble and other big bookshops being a journey away, it means I can't go shopping there every day, and a visit is a treat. I am really not complaining--I love it here--but some of life's little necessities are missing/far away:

1) Ross Stores. Nearest today: New Jersey! Not one in NY state!
I miss the treasure-trove of clothes, shoes, tops, bottoms, soap, towels, curtains, sheets, baskets, boxes, weird ornaments, mirrors, undies, socks, mugs, glasses, vases, pictures, mirrors, pullovers, scarves, handbags, luggage, shirts, ties, Christmas cards in June. There's a perfect spot for a Ross, next to Staples and close to the ATT phone shop. I emailed them and told them so, but they haven't acknowledged the brilliant idea. Yet.

2) Trader Joe's. Nearest today: Lake Grove, twenty miles.
It's a long way for everyday food but nowhere closer sells gluten-free bread, European (i.e., real,) cheese (and yes we do have cheese in England for those of you who may be French), frozen jasmine rice (lazy, but good), real olive tapenade, and frozen Vindaloo Chicken (yes, really). And to those of you who commute to the city every day and take Nicolls Road from the LIE to Sunrise, my route to Lake Grove, a polite reminder. THE BL***Y STATE SPEED LIMIT IS 55 MILES/HOUR AND NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED WHILE DRIVING UNLESS HANDS-FREE. I think you misread the signs and added a 1. Before the first 5. Scary.

Put a Trader Joes in Riverhead, that's OK, could combine a trip with a visit to the Polish shop (see below) and avoid the I-own-the-road loonies.

3) A Russian food shop. Or Polish food shop. Whichever. Only a few requirements: must sell real honey (the sort that crystalizes and tastes of spring or summer or forests or lavender fields and buzzes), the makings for bigos (kielbasa, sauerkraut, cabbage and that special bacony-ham), and Krowki. Mmmmm krowki. So I should make an effort and go to Riverhead to the Polish deli when it's open and bring back a cupboard full of honey. and stop moaning about processed sugar-water. OK. But it *would* be nice to have one just down the street. Dziekuje bardzo.

4) A coffee-shop/tea house. Somewhere nice to go for a coffee. Not necessarily Starbucks: just not Dunkin Donuts, McDos or the deli (deli coffee is really good but nowhere to hang out). People have accosted me in supermarket parking lot asking where the Starbucks is. And I really don't know.

5) A real bakers'. Where the smell of fresh-baked bread drifts out into the street and the loaves are whole and uncut and not-necessarily-square-shaped and where some may have embedded olives and some have cheesy crusts and some have HOVIS like raised scars. Not that I can eat the darn stuff any more but real bread smells sooooooooo gooooooooood.

6) Any shop at all that sells tinned fava/broad beans. Ful!!!!

The shop that we absolutely do NOT need close by:

A yarn shop. I have sixty-year's worth of knitting wool in the loft. If a yarn shop opens nearby I will not be able to resist that beautiful, soft, sweet-smelling, warm, green/blue merino... so no yarn shop needed. Please. No. Really.