Retail Wine Shop Analysis- Richard Buren
Doing this retail wine shop was interesting, I ended up going to 3 wines shops, two being in the city and one in my home town Queens. The first wine shop I went to was Chelsea Wine Vault, located within Chelsea Market in the Lower Westside. This wine shop had a semi old school due to being made out of brick yet had hipster vibe to it. The wines that they had were separated by region. Some of those regions are Spain, Chile, Germany, South Africa, America, and many more. The employees were friendly and informative by telling me that they have wines aged in Oak and steel barrels. He told me that oak aged wines were more popular in America. He also showed me two different wines one aged in Oak and one aged in steel. The one aged in steel was the Natura a Chardonnay saying Un-oakes on the bottle from Chile and the aged in Oak was Rombauer also a Chardonnay. In the stored, they had their cellar which people were allowed walk in and look at what they have stored. The cellar is temperature and humidity controlled room, where they hold their more expensive and older wines which is also arranged by region. I wouldn’t know all of this if it wasn’t for the helpful and informative employees.
From a hipster old school wine shop to a modern and more inviting wine shop located on 38 st and Madison, called Park Avenue Liquor Shop. Recently moved to this new and more spacious location about a year ago, walking in felt more inviting and welcoming , due to how chill and friendly the employees were. As soon as I asked to take pictures, one employee showed me wines that might me cool yet interesting to take a picture of like a Opus One a Napa Valley red wine which is favored by the Asian population and also Opus One was mentioned in a Jay Z song. Another cool and interesting wine to take a picture of was their Bordeaux section where they had some of their pricier wines shown on display. Their wines were also arrange by region where the prices ranges from inexpensive to high priced wines due to popularity. They have a cellar which is located down stairs with more expensive wines arranged by region. Besides the cellar, they have a another room with more higher end and rare wine as far as late 1800s that you need a special key to get in there.
Last but not least was the Hunter’s Point wines and Spirits in Long Island City Queens, their logo was my favorite, it was unique and sophisticated and modern red and black sign , but the inside had the sophisticated classy feel yet eerie due to I was the only customer there and the employees didn’t really have that welcoming feel. Their wines were arrange from region and prices and some were aged in steel and oak. The wines that were displayed had a description about the wine and what you would expect from that wine to taste and also a food pairing that will match the wine.
- the one aged in steel barrel was the Natura ,a Chardonnay saying Un-Oaked on the label of the bottle from Chile and the one Aged in Oak was the Rombauer
- Opus One a Napa Valley red wine which is favored by the Asian population and also Opus One was mentioned in a Jay Z song
- Bordeaux section where they had some of their pricier wines shown on display
- unique and sophisticated and modern red and black sign
- The wines that were displayed had a description about the wine and what you would expect from that wine to taste and also a food pairing that will match the wine.
Wow, I went to the Hunter’s Point wines and Spirits in Long Island City, and I had almost the same experience. I had to dig very deep for same information.
Seems as if Hunter’s Point needs some City Tech Hospitality infused into their service standards. I appreciate that you visited and compared three stores. By the way, Opus One is fantastic, I wish I still had some.