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Amazon ends Fresh on L.I. shame that it’s gone.” Amazon Fresh stores allowed customers to scan a code on their Amazon Fresh’s high-tech phones or use Dash Carts — approach to grocery shopping smart shopping carts equipped has come to an end on Long with cameras and screens that Island, as parent company Ama- track items and tally totals in real time. Shoppers could then zon announced the exit through desigclosure of all its nated lanes without Amazon Fresh and stopping at a regisAmazon Go brickter. and-mortar stores “You could just nationwide, includscan your phone and ing its two locations everything gets paid in New York state, f o r, ” Michael both on the Island. D’Ambrosio said, The 47,300-squarecontrasting the expefoot Oceanside store, rience with longer at 3620 Long Beach checkout lines at Road, opened in July larger supermarkets 2022 with fanfare and warehouse over its easy shopclubs. ping features. A secJillian Kostal, ond Long Island another Oceanside location, in East resident, called the Setauket, opened in store “very futurisOctober 2024; a Platic and a bit odd.” inview location that “It’s a shame to debuted in October lose,” she added. 2024 closed less than The closure also a year later. affects employees. The Oceanside ALEX ROEMER Alex Roemer, who store’s final day of Amazon Fresh worked at the operation was Feb. 1. employee Oceanside store For shoppers like before leaving for Michael and Jill D’Ambrosio of Oceanside, the college, said the announcement came as a surprise. closure was disappointing. “I was very surprised to hear “It was great, absolutely great,” Jill D’Ambrosio said. “It about the store shutting down,” was just easy. No lines. You pack Roemer said. “I enjoyed Amazon your bag as you go, and every- Fresh as well as working there. I thing’s taken care of. What a CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
By ABIGAIL GRIECO
agrieco@liherald.com
I
Courtesy Justine Burke
Launched by Oceanside couple Tom and Justine Burke, High Tide Lacrosse has turned travel lacrosse on Long Island into a more affordable, enjoyable and accessible experience.
O’side couple head youth lacrosse By ABIGAIL GRIECO agrieco@liherald.com
When Tom and Justine Burke considered the growing demands of youth travel sports on Long Island, they saw an opportunity to build something closer to home. The Oceanside couple launched High Tide Lacrosse last spring with co-creator Brian Tower, creating a development-focused youth club aimed at providing competitive training for local players without the high costs and long commutes often associated with national travel programs. Tom Burke, a longtime lacrosse player, coach and athletic director who now teaches and oversees athletics at East West School of International Studies in New York City, said the idea took shape after years of hearing stories about families driving across Nassau County for practices and games. “I kept hearing about parents leaving work early and driving 45 minutes for a one-hour practice,” he recalled. “We wanted to create a high-level program for South Shore kids that was local, affordable and community-based.” High Tide Lacrosse began with plans for a single boys’ team, but quickly expanded amid
strong interest from families in Oceanside, Long Beach, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook and surrounding communities. The club, based in Oceanside, now fields three teams — of second-, third- and fourth-graders — and plans to add additional teams next year, including its first girls’ team. Both founders bring extensive lacrosse experience. Tom Burke, 37, played collegiately and went on to compete professionally with the Boston Cannons and the Long Island Lizards. He also represented Ireland in international competition, playing for Team Ireland in the World Games in Denver in 2014 and San Diego in 2022. Justine Burke, 37, who grew up in Oceanside, began playing lacrosse as a high school junior at the encouragement of a varsity coach. The sport changed her trajectory, she said, eventually leading her to compete at Durham University, in England, where she was part of a national championship team. “Lacrosse completely shaped my life,” she said. “It gave both of us opportunities we never expected — to travel, to compete internationally, to build lifelong relationships. Now we get to bring that back to kids in our own CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
think it came as a shock to everyone who worked there, and to be completely honest, it’s upsetting, because now I have no job when I come back in the summer.