Enlarge Photo

One street behind Main Street, cheeselovers line up to sample the offerings in this tiny Sag Harbor shop, which specializes in rare cheeses, both domestic and imported, but also sells gourmet oils, honeys and savories. Owners Michael and Tracey Cavaniola recently opened an adjacent wine store, stocked (like the cheese shop) with unique and limited-edition finds. The plan is to hold a lot of wine-cheese tastings on weekends.

Known for its friendly staff (not a given in the Hamptons), this Southampton liquor store carries both local (from both the South and North Forks of Long Island) and international wines and delivers “from Montauk to Manhattan.”

Catherine Bodziner, whose passion for cheese was sparked on a Napa Valley wine tasting trip, originally started selling cheeses from all over America at the East Hampton Farmer’s Market. In 2008, she and business partner Lucy Kazickas opened their own shop. In addition to cheese, the store carries other artisanal food products like salamis, chutneys, and crostini as well as dips, desserts (including cheesecake) and sandwiches.

Most of the Hamptons’ gourmet cheese shops import their goods from farmers located elsewhere. Art and Stacy Ludlow own their own Jersey cows and they both make and sell their cheeses right here in Bridgehampton. Some of their biggest hits, like the Atlantic Mist and the Mecox Sunrise, are also sold at retail stores, including the Village Cheese Shop, Cavaniola’s Gourmet and Lucy’s Whey.

Kathleen King’s crispy chocolate chop cookies are sold in gourmet food shops and grocery stores throughout Long Island and NYC. At her super-quaint yellow and turquoise bakery (formerly called Kathleen’s Bake Shop), you can get them fresh from the oven. Every day, her bakery also turns out fresh muffins, coconut macaroons, a variety of pies and custom cakes.

Toward the end of August, when many Hamptons businesses begin to think about shuttering for the season, the Milk Pail, is just getting ready to open its doors. Inside this quaint family-run farm store you’ll find wholesome goods like fresh-picked apples and homemade apple cider, doughnuts (including an apple cider flavor), pies and Vermont cheeses and syrups—Eveleyn Halsey, who owns the place along with her husband John, is originally from Vermont. The family’s farm and apple orchards (where the apples are grown) are located on Mecox Road and throughout the fall, are overrun by urbanites and suburbanites, who come to partake in quintessential country activities like apple and pumpkin picking. The Mecox Road location also has a smaller farm stand, the Mini Milk Pail, which sells locally grown vegetables and produce and a flower shop run by John and Eveleyn’s daughter, Amy. Both abide by regular Hamptons hours, opening in May and closing after Labor Day.