The Little Tuna Not So Little Anymore

The Little Tuna restaurant is expanding into the storefront next door that used to be Forever Young Emporium and Jamaican Me Crazy.

The restaurant at 141 Kings Highway East will annex the storefront at 139 Kings Highway East, according to Remi Fortunato, the retail recruiter for the Partnership for Haddonfield, the borough, business-tax funded business improvement district.

"They're going to have a fresh fish and butchered meat market there and it will be the new entrance to the restaurant," Fortunato said. "It will have a theme like a butcher shop from the 1920s, with clerks with long, white aprons and white tiles on the walls. It will help fill a void in town for fresh fish since Haddonfield Shellfish closed last year."

Haddonfield Shellfish, on Grove Street, is now a Goodwill donation dropoff center.

Fortunato said the restaurant will also feature a 42-foot-long awning across the combined store fronts.

The renovations are expected to cost more than $80,000, Fortunato said. The PfH approved a $3,450 grant to The Little Tuna owners during its monthly meeting last week to help pay for the expansion, $2,800 for one month of rent and $1,500 for construction costs. The latter amount will be paid over two years.

Forever Young Emporium closed in January after an 11-year run as a novelty and gift shop. It was known for most of that time as Jamaican Me Crazy.

Gary Reses was the shop owner. He and his wife are moving to Glassboro on the campus of Rowan University for a new store. Reses, a borough resident, was a member of the PfH. He and another board member who recently resigned, Deena Gersh, were replaced by Kathy Gold, from In the Kitchen cooking school, and Kathryn Simon.