DeCicco & Sons
Opened: March 28, 2025
On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless!—but his horror was still more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!
Opened: March 28, 2025
Owner: John and Joe DeCicco Sr.
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Krasdale Foods
Location: 1 Legend Dr, Sleepy Hollow, NY
Photographed: April 24, 2025
- Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1820
Bad news, everyone. I'm done with The Market Report. I can't visit supermarkets anymore. The new DeCicco & Sons here in Sleepy Hollow has ruined all other supermarkets for me forever. It doesn't get better than this.
No, I'm serious. Okay, not about the quitting writing part. But this has to be in the top 5 supermarkets I've ever been to. Probably the top 3. DeCicco & Sons is a Westchester County-based chain of gourmet supermarkets, and their stores are absolutely first-rate in every way. I've been to several of their locations, and they keep adding new stores. It's easy to see why. There are any number of exceptional supermarkets in the northeast, but DeCicco must be at the top of that list. They have pulled out all the stops for their latest new-build store in Sleepy Hollow, but somehow even that cliche feels inadequate to describe what this store has to offer. Let's check it out.
Sleepy Hollow, New York is best known for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving's 1820 short story about a headless horseman. It was also once home to the North Tarrytown Assembly, a General Motors factory. Though that plant is long gone, its site is now home to a new riverfront residential development called Edge on Hudson. DeCicco & Sons is right in the middle of the development. The above pickup truck is located at the entrance to the supermarket, an original truck constructed at the North Tarrytown Assembly. But don't forget about the headless horseman, we'll come back to him.
The stunning supermarket is also among DeCicco's largest. In total, it's 50,000 square feet across the two floors, but only 30,000 square feet of that is the supermarket on the ground floor. 20,000 square feet is the very special features on the second floor. We'll be taking a walk upstairs at the end of this tour. You enter to the produce department, which is on the left side of the store. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, with dairy, frozen, and beer in the grocery aisles. Deli and prepared foods take up the last two aisles, with a massive cheese department, bakery, and coffee shop in the front-right corner. HABA is on the front wall beyond the registers.
The store is a new-build, but feels (intentionally, I'm sure) like a repurposed industrial facility. It goes without saying that it's very upscale, but taking a close look at any of the offerings in any of the departments will show you exactly how upscale it is.
I'll note that I was here first thing in the morning, so you'll see almost nobody shopping and some of the prepared foods hadn't yet been put out. Still, this store seems to be rather popular: it currently has a stunning 4.9 stars out of 5 on Google Maps.
Walking into a truly gourmet store like this reminds you how it's done. West of the Hudson, even the most upscale New Jersey suburbs typically have stores like ShopRite (good stores, but not upscale) and Kings (once a premier gourmet market, but now a shadow of its former self). There are a handful of exceptional gourmet stores in New Jersey, but really very few. I'm jealous. And I will definitely be coming back to Sleepy Hollow to shop here someday.
The store's design is understated and refined. There aren't any big, splashy department signs (which is actually a notable change from past decor), but it's simple and elegant.
Service meat and seafood counters at the back of the produce department, along with lots of packaged items. Notice that almost the entire perimeter of the store has large windows, not to mention those on the higher levels, which makes the store extremely bright and airy.
The grocery aisles are not quite as exciting as the perimeter, but they're still thoroughly exceptional. Every element of the store is designed as close to perfectly as possible.
Dairy is in a grocery aisle roughly in the middle of the store.
And frozen, too...
The beer department is also in an aisle, but feels like a specialty department. It's quite an accomplishment to get a regular row of refrigerator cases to feel specialty.
And in the last aisles, we start to see where it really starts to get exciting. There's an island in the middle of this aisle, with the hot food and salad bar taking up one entire side (and packaged prepared foods facing). The pizza station is at the back, with salads and sandwiches on the other side of the island. Deli is in the back-right corner, with prepared foods and sushi lining the rest of the outside wall. Cheese is at the front in an enormous display.
The deli here is extremely interesting and unusual. Rows of self-serve, pre-sliced Boar's Head cold cuts are here (there's also non-Boar's Head items just to the right) and a screen to order your cold cuts, which are then placed in numbered trays at the other end of the deli department when they're done. Alternatively, you can walk up to the counter under the "custom slicing order" sign below to place an order. Unlike a traditional supermarket deli, there's no meats displayed in a glass case, it's simply a desk like a coffee shop or something. The glass display case is to the right, with prepared foods and salads.
Hot food and salad bars, to the left, hadn't yet opened for the morning.
But the prepared foods cases were fully stocked, as you can see here. Everything is a service department, and for busy times everything is staffed, not self-serve. That's a nice high-end touch, too, and very different from the direction many big chains are going.
Salad and sandwich counters facing the deli counter.
And now we move into the cheese department at the front of the deli and prepared foods area. Lest you be underwhelmed, rest assured that the refrigerator case below is not the entire cheese department.
Not by a long shot...
An incredibly long specialty cheese case runs along the front wall between deli and bakery. Let's see, a tractor-trailer truck's trailer is 53 feet, and this must have been at least that long. Truly exceptional. Like the deli and prepared foods areas, this is also a staffed service counter for custom-cut cheeses.
Bakery and coffee shop are up next along the front wall.
There are separate counters for pastries and bread, which is baked in-store. There's also a lot of locally-baked breads, from any number of well-known New York bakeries.
The coffee shop -- which is truly a full-service coffee shop, not just a few carafes of stale convenience store coffee like a lot of big-chain stores have -- is next to the bakery. It's also a juice and smoothie bar, and there are more fresh pastries in the case.
Given that this is, I believe, the only commercial establishment within the new residential development here, it's clear they're trying to have every service and convenience that the residents might need, and then some.
Now let's head up to the second floor!
This is the view upon coming to the top of the staircase or elevator. We're back over the produce department. And our first stop is a lounge with some (very comfortable) couches and some conference rooms along this wall. And what's that on the right?
Yep, I told you to remember the headless horseman! Around the mezzanine, DeCicco has display cases with several headless horseman-related costumes. This first one comes from the 1999 film Sleepy Hollow, in which Christopher Walken wore this exact costume.
And a costume from the 2013-2017 TV series Sleepy Hollow...
Another one from the 1999 movie...
And one more costume from that 1999 movie, at the back of the mezzanine area.
Enough with the movie costumes, let's get back to the supermarket!
The mezzanine is very obviously designed to give some spectacular views of the store's sales floor, too. Here you can get a sense of the general setup, and the immaculate condition of every part of the store. For what it's worth, this is still a very new store, but it was about a month old when I visited, so no longer in the grand opening weeks.
Now if you're a film nerd, you're into those movie costumes. If you're a supermarket nerd, you're into this incredible refrigeration and heating/cooling system (with some very cool dramatic blue lighting).
And at the back of the mezzanine is a gorgeous bar and restaurant. Looks like it gets busy when it's not, you know, a weekday morning. You can eat food from the downstairs prepared foods department here, or order at the bar (or even at your table!) from the restaurant kitchen here.
The dining room is stunning, and looks out onto the Hudson River.
Check out this tap behind the bar for beer!
The restaurant kitchen also has a casual food pop-up window facing the mezzanine for pizza, but it wasn't yet open when I visited.
And the final stop around the second-floor circuit: a catering hall and event space, which also overlooks the river, where DeCicco will cater your event with food made in-store or in the restaurant kitchen. And don't worry: you can enter this second floor without walking through the supermarket, so if you're hosting a party here, your guests won't get lost in the cereal aisle on their way.
One more look across the store from the produce side back to the other side...
Next to the conference rooms is this all-glass room with a custom-built refrigeration and heating/cooling system. It captures the heat produced in the refrigeration and uses it to heat the store and water. You can read all about it from this sign...
This Sleepy Hollow store is DeCicco's best store yet, and a masterclass in not only how to run a gourmet market but how to truly make a supermarket the center of a neighborhood. And despite what I said at the beginning, I do in fact continue to visit supermarkets and I don't plan to stop anytime soon. They'll just all seem a little less special after visiting this one. Check out this weekend's other visits here!
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