Retail Wine Shop Blog -Saarrah Rahim

I thought the banner was creative and eye catching.

This being my first visit to a retail wine shop I wasn’t sure what to expect! I called Chamber Street Wines and Heights Chateau. I decided on Chamber Street Wines as Amanda who assisted me on the phone seemed very willing and accommodating. She informed me that she would try her best to answer all my questions and if not she would ask her colleagues to assist. Chamber Street Wines is located at 148 Chamber Street, NY 10007. Upon arriving I noticed the store by this banner they had hanging. Once I entered the shop seemed lively as there were wine salespeople introducing their latest wines to the shopkeepers. They were having a tasting session and seemed comfortable and engaged.

I met with Amanda who greeted my friends and I warmly and we went right into the questions.

-What is your best selling wine? Sparkling Prosecco

-What is something you would like to improve about the shop? In store customer service can always be improved.

-What regions of wine do you offer? France, Italy, Spain, US-Georgia, Austria, Germany

-What clientele do you target? We are a neighborhood shop so definitely those who live and work around here.

– Best recommended white/red? Elizabeth Spencer- Chardonnay & California Pinot Noir.

How did you learn about wine & what does it take to work in this particular shop? By working retail and having a strong education in wine, grapes, and regions. Particularly for this store we also focus on understanding natural wines.

Next, I took a walk around to identify the different types of displays the shop offered.

There was an assortment of shelves like above with wines standing up. There were also cardboard boxes containing what Amanda explained to be everyday sellers. The wines in this store are sorted by region with maps of the region posted above the shelves.

This is a photo of the sparkling wine section. I was a little confused as to how I could identify the sparkling wines and champagnes. An employee approached us and explained that the caps on these bottles are crown caps which is how they are identified. He then went down the line of bottles mentioning that they were sorted by sparkling champagne, and sparkling wine and according to region. He named the regions as he went down the line and explained that some of the spirits are from right here in Brooklyn, NY. being a neighborhood shop this was clear proof.

This is a refrigerator which contained more sparkling wine selections.

White Wine Display

Red Wine Display

 

This is what a display would look like in this shop. They are laid down and posted above is a map of the region. It felt relieving to see the Pinot Noir from Oregon as we’ve studied this region and also to see the Russian River Valley Selby Chardonnay which I remembered is an AVA in California!

 

2 thoughts on “Retail Wine Shop Blog -Saarrah Rahim

  1. Its seems you hit a homerun for your first visit to a wine shop. Wine stores can be a bit overwhelming at first because of the endless amounts but Im happy to see you found someone kind to share their wisdom with you. Looks like you learned allot.

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