Riverhead is one of five locations for new Gala Fresh Farms supermarkets

Imagine filling 40,000 square feet of retail and warehouse space with stock, replacing shelving and equipment, cleaning and updating and being ready to open for business in less than a month.

That’s what is underway right now at the former long-time quarters of King Kullen in Riverhead, where dozens of workers are swarming throughout the cavernous supermarket — cleaning, painting, installing equipment, stocking shelves and taking job applications.

Gala Fresh Farms plans to open its doors to the public at 7 a.m. on Dec. 30. Part of the Key Food Coooperative, Gala plans to open at lest five new stores in the metro New York area.

It’s a daunting task, acknowledges the store’s general manager, Luis Correa, who has been employed with an affiliate of Gala Fresh Farms for 11 years. This is not his first new store opening. It’s a very expensive one, too — “seven figures,” Correa estimates.

“We’re doing a lot of aesthetics work, a lot of updating,” he said leading a reporter on a tour of the supermarket this morning.

In the warehouse area he installed a steel rack system so stock can be loaded by forklift. Gala Fresh bought two forklifts for that purpose.

“It’s a full-service supermarket, that will offer fresh fish, including local catches, organic produce, an open meat counter where you can customize your cuts, an on-site bakery, a steam table with a large buffet area, a big case for prepared foods to grab and go, and a deli section featuring Boar’s Head cold cuts,” Correa said.

The store will have two aisles of international foods offering shoppers products from Eastern Europe as well as Central and South America, reflecting the composition of the local population, he said. The produce section will feature tropical fruits and vegetables that reflect the community’s diversity as well.

The new supermarket will employ about 50 people, according to Correa. All employees are full-time, he said.

The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year, he said.

Gala Fresh Farms is owned by Aurora Grocery Group, based in Freeport, New York, according to Supermarket News. Aurora also operates 20 Compare Foods stores, but Gala Fresh is a “different concept,” a partner in Aurora told the trade newspaper, as reported in a Dec. 17 article. The company opened a Gala Fresh Farms in Baldwin this week and, in addition to the Riverhead location, plans to open three other supermarkets soon — in Brooklyn, Passaic, New Jersey and East Paterson, New Jersey.