🚚 Neighborhood Spotlight: Small Moves Long Island quotes it straight, no padded hours

🥵 A heat advisory grips Long Island Thursday and Friday

🛒 Two family grocers unite: Giunta's Meat Farms is buying King Kullen

🚑 Riverhead clears the way for a new ambulance corps headquarters

Nobody warns you about the small move. Not the cross country one, the two bedroom one, where you don't need a national van line and you don't have a month to plan it. So you fill out one form online and your phone rings five times in an hour from companies you've never heard of, and you still have no idea who's actually showing up at your door. That's the exact frustration this company was built around.

They've been at it for ten years, and the whole premise is the niche most of the big outfits don't want. Apartments, condos, houses of three bedrooms and under, downsizing, and moving labor for people who rented a pod or are driving their own truck and just need it loaded properly. They'll clear out a storage unit and bring everything to your new place, or take it the other way when life goes that direction. They cover Suffolk and Nassau and nothing west of the Nassau border, which is its own kind of honesty.

It's full service with one exception, which is that they don't pack your boxes. Everything else is handled. The crew disassembles what needs it, pads and wraps it, loads and secures it, then unloads, unwraps, and reassembles at the other end. Every crew member has 20 plus years of moving experience, and the teams working right now have been together for more than six years, which almost never happens in this industry. Moving is seasonal, so a lot of the bigger companies staff up with summer help who don't know each other and won't be back. These guys stay on year round through the quiet stretch from late September into spring, which is exactly why they're fast and why they know how to work around each other.

Pricing is all inclusive with two exceptions and it's hourly, with a starting time allotment where the more time you book, the less it costs per hour. Here's the part that tells you who you're dealing with. When they quote you, they ask enough questions to really understand the scope and then start you with the smallest realistic crew and the shortest window they can see the job taking, rather than padding it. There's no discount for finishing early, since the truck and crew were held for you either way, so the only person that padding would benefit is them. They're five stars across the board on Google, Angi, and Facebook, which is what happens when you quote it that way for a decade.

This is peak season for them, and the one thing they'd ask readers to keep in mind is to work directly with the company that will actually be doing your move. Between the brokers who sell your information and the small outfits that appear overnight, it's worth knowing whose truck is pulling up.

You can reach them at www.smallmoveslongisland.com.

Join us in welcoming Small Moves Long Island to the neighborhood spotlight, a company whose crews have stayed together for six years running, which is really the only credential that matters when strangers are carrying your things down a flight of stairs.

Time to dig the box fans out of the garage. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for all of Long Island running from Thursday through 8 p.m. Friday, with heat index values expected to climb to around 100 degrees across both counties.

That kind of heat is more than sticky-shirt uncomfortable. Officials are urging residents to stay indoors in air conditioning when possible, or find shade if you have to be outside, and to limit strenuous outdoor activity during the hottest stretch of the afternoon. If your errands can wait until evening, this is the week to let them.

It's also a good excuse to check in on the neighbors who need it most: older relatives, anyone without reliable air conditioning, and pets who can't tell you when they're overheating. A five minute phone call beats a much worse Friday.

👉 Read more: RiverheadLOCAL

It's a Long Island grocery story if there ever was one. Giunta's Meat Farms has agreed to acquire King Kullen, bringing together two family owned local chains in a deal expected to close in September. Oakdale based Giunta's will take over King Kullen's 24 supermarkets and four Wild by Nature natural foods markets across Nassau and Suffolk.

King Kullen isn't just any grocery chain. Headquartered in Hauppauge and founded in 1930, it's recognized by the Smithsonian as America's first supermarket, and it's long been Long Island's largest family owned grocer. Giunta's roots go back to 1952, when the family got into the supermarket business in Queens, and it now runs 10 locations across the Island.

Both companies say it's business as usual until the deal closes: stores stay open under their current names for now, and King Kullen and Wild by Nature employees are expected to be retained. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but for two Long Island institutions with a combined century of history, this one's worth watching.

👉 Read more: RiverheadLOCAL

The Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps has outgrown its current home, and the town just cleared the last hurdle standing in the way of a replacement. Riverhead's town board approved zoning exemptions this week for a new three story, 25,303 square foot headquarters on Osborn Avenue, replacing the existing one story building.

The new facility will include offices, meeting rooms, a fitness and recreation area, a kitchen, bunkrooms, and a garage sized to handle the corps' growing fleet of emergency vehicles. RVAC now answers almost 6,000 calls a year, a number that's climbed right alongside the town's growth, and the current building simply isn't built for it anymore.

Because of the site's size, the project needed variances on floor area ratio, height, and lot coverage, all of which the board signed off on. It's a quieter kind of local news story, but for the volunteers who show up when Riverhead needs them most, it's a big one.

👉 Read more: RiverheadLOCAL

Long Island Local Pulse is inviting local businesses and organizations to be featured in its growing community newsletter.

The platform highlights local news, events and community stories, providing businesses with an opportunity to reach a highly engaged local audience and showcase what they offer.

From restaurants and shops to services and community groups, all are encouraged to participate and share their story with readers across Long Island. Don’t own a business? That’s ok… Know of one that should be featured?

Those interested in being featured can reach out to learn more about available opportunities and upcoming editions. Click the button below to feature your business or send an email to [email protected] with your business details and we’ll reach out!