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As a teenager growing up in Manhasset in the early 1990’s, Irena Angeliades was allowed to drive to one place: Dairy Barn.
“I got my license at 17, and the only place I was allowed to take the car to was the Dairy Barn when my mother needed milk,” she said. “They’re just such a part of my personal past and history.”
Now 52, Angeliades is the driving force behind a movement that’s bringing those classic red-and-white drive-through barns back to life across Long Island — under a new name, The Barn, that preserves their nostalgia and reshapes them for a new generation.
She’s already opened locations in Huntington and East Northport, and her next one — inside the long-shuttered and much-beloved Patchogue location on Medford Avenue — opens this month.
Update: The Barn opens in Patchogue, bringing a Long Island icon back to life
The Barn also has a location in Merrick, which is independently owned and, Angeliades said, has permission to use The Barn name and has played an “integral role” in the chain’s success.
A new era for an old icon
The long-dormant Dairy Barn on Medford Avenue in Patchogue will open as The Barn, fully restored to its bright red true roots.
Once a staple of suburban convenience where you could drive up and have a gallon of milk, bread, eggs and a pack of “Marlboros Box” brought to your car, Dairy Barns were scattered across Long Island for decades. But competition from supermarkets, gas station conveniences and, ultimately, home delivery apps pushed them toward extinction.
Angeliades and her father purchased the chain a little over 15 years ago, when there were just under 50 stores left. For a few years, she operated them as traditional Dairy Barns — until shifting habits and shrinking margins made the old model unsustainable.
“From 15 years ago until now, you have every gas station selling milk and eggs, and then home delivery came into play,” she said.
“It used to be convenient to drive through. Now it’s more convenient to open your front door.” — Irena Angeliades
After leasing the stores to another company that later went bankrupt, Angeliades took them back — and decided to reinvent the business herself.
The concept that clicked
Working with New York-based roaster For Five Coffee, Angeliades and her team began developing a fresh concept centered on creative, high-quality coffee drinks.
“The kids who work in the stores said, ‘Let’s do a s’mores latte — we’ll put marshmallows and graham crackers in the coffee,’” she said. “I told them, ‘Let’s just have fun.’ And then one of those drinks went viral, and that was it.”
That playful experimentation turned The Barn into a national social-media favorite, especially after the launch of a pumpkin spice latte served inside an actual pumpkin.
The Barn is the kind of place where you can get a pumpkin latte served in an actual pumpkin.
“We go to a farm out east to get a few hundred pumpkins every week,” she said. “You have to cut them, clean them, get them ready. But but people love them!”
The combination of nostalgia and novelty has fueled a revival that has Angeliades planning to open a total of 10 locations of The Barn on Long Island, and eyeing opening a bunch more in the Miami area.
The Patchogue comeback
“It was very important to me that we keep the exact same color,” said Angeliades, who is also a restaurateur, operating Symi in Northport and Kyma locations in Roslyn, Manhattan and West Palm Beach, Florida. “There’s actually a color in the Benjamin Moore family called Dairy Barn Red — and that’s what we use. Even the silo, the whole thing. It’s all exactly the way it was.”
Patchogue once housed the busiest Dairy Barn in the entire chain. But when a nearby gas station and convenience store opened years ago, sales fell sharply. Operations shut down, and the building sat vacant.
“I just knew in my gut that the next Barn to open had to be Patchogue,” she said. “You know, I’ve got friends who’ve moved into new apartment communities in Patchogue. I’ve noticed that it’s really becoming a, a younger-type crowd.
“Patchogue is the right spot. It just felt right,” Angeliades added.
The Barn in Patchogue will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., employing eight to ten people, with plans to extend hours in summer.
Nostalgia meets new energy
Angeliades said The Barn’s charm resonates across generations.
“The moms still love it because they can pull through and get what they need without taking the kids out of the car,” she said. “And the seniors love it too. Everyone has a story about Dairy Barn.”
She’s proud to keep the structures recognizable — from the silo to the double drive-throughs that would never be approved for new construction today.
“To not capitalize on that is insane,” she said.
And while she’s quick to say she’s not promoting smoking, she points out another unique feature: “It’s the only place in all of New York where you can drive through and buy coffee and cigarettes in the same spot. The old-timers love it.”
Expansion and beyond
By the end of this year, Angeliades expects to have five Barns open — in Huntington, Northport, Patchogue, Central Moriches, and Ronkonkoma — with openings in Kings Park, Massapequa, Seaford and Selden on deck for the spring.
“All of them are old Dairy Barns,” she said. “By the spring, I’ll have around 10 stores open.”
She’s even exploring a partnership with a Florida chain called Farm Stores, which dates back to the same 1950s roots as Dairy Barn.
“I’m flying down to meet with the owner to possibly turn those into Barn stores, too,” she said of her trip to Miami this month.
Angeliades considers The Barn project both a business revival and a labor of love.
“Every time I sold one and watched them knock it down for a Dunkin’ Donuts, it kind of hurt my heart,” she said. “It’s a piece of Long Island history. They’ve been around 75 years, and I hope they’re around another 75.”
Top photos: The Barn in Patchogue opens on Nov. 10 (Credit: Nicholas Esposito).
