Riverhead Residents Donate to Replace Star Confectionery's Stolen $10K

Patrons of Star Confectionery, a 104-year-old luncheonette in Riverhead, raised more than $10,000 in two days to replace that amount of cash that was burglarized from the beloved eatery this month.

The shop’s owner, Anthony Meras, reported the break-in and initially thought it was an attempted burglary before realizing that cash was missing from the safe on Nov. 12, Riverhead Town Police said. After hearing about the theft, employee Shelley Berdan Papa started a GoFundMe campaign to crowdsource an online fundraiser and help the restaurant get back on its feet.

“Anthony and his family have been a Riverhead staple for over 100 years,” she wrote. “They’re always giving back to the community, and now it’s the community’s turn to give back to them. Operating a small business has not been easy for Anthony. After the loss of his father and a few scary medical episodes, he has had to cut back on his hours so as you can imagine, $10,000 missing has hurt him and his business badly.”

The campaign raised $10,850 in a matter of days for the eatery affectionately called “Papa Nick’s” by the locals. Most of the money Meras had planned to use to pay taxes on the business.

“There are no words for how thankful we are for the community this week,” the Meras family wrote on Star Confectionery’s Instagram account. “So many people showed kindness in so many ways and we will never forget that! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!! See you all tomorrow for pancakes.”

Riverhead detectives, who are continuing the investigation, determined that the break in occurred sometime between 11:30 a.m. Nov. 11 and 7:30 a.m. Nov. 12. Riverhead police ask anyone with information about the burglary to call them at 631-727-4500.