Leaving the fast pace of their city life behind, Joanne Cosonas and her husband, Anthony Medina, moved to eastern Suffolk County nearly three years ago to help care for her mother and try their hand at semi-retirement.
But, after two years of tranquility, the couple was ready to get back into the workforce in a big way; six months ago, they founded Agora, Mattituck’s first Greek market.
“There is a huge Greek community in Mattituck and it extends far east,” says Cosonas. “They are just happy they don’t have to drag all their goods out from Queens in their coolers and can just stop by.” The community is well established around the Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church on Breakwater Road, where an annual Greek festival is held.
At Agora, which is Greek for marketplace, Cosonas aims to keep the store very “authentic,” featuring a wide range of foods from five kinds of feta to obscure items essential for Greek baking. So far Cosonas’s experience in the design at Eileen Fisher, and her husband’s accounting skills honed after 42 years in Con Ed’s accounting department have come into some good use, evidenced in the store’s sleek design. The store imports many foods from Greece, but features baked goods from Astoria, Queens, as well as jewelry and ceramics. Customers can expect traditional Greek pastries baklava, kataifi and galactoboureko as well as cookies like kourambiedes, melomakarona and koulourakia. Cosonas hopes to source some merchandise from local producers and is currently selling Lucy Dalton’s evil eye jewelry.
