Damaris Rabassa
Professor Goodlad
Wine and Beverage
April 4, 2012
North End Wine and Liquor
Retail Wine Shop
North End and Wine and Liquor is located on 2509 Webster Ave Bronx N.Y. 10458. It’s very easy to find since its right on Fordham Road, it can’t be missed. The store from outside looks big, but when you’re inside you get a different feel, your cramped up by boxes and wine racks. It was not really customer friendly. Entering the store I had no direction in which way to go since both wine and liquor was sold. So I looked up, saw a wine bottle, and went straight in that direction.
Wines were separated by regions and grape variety which was odd for me. Not every region and grape variety was highlighted only such as Italy, Chile (Chilean), Argentina, California, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Nior. The section for Italy wines and California wines was pretty big compared to others. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a section for wines in France and Germany. Although they were present, some French and German wines were scattered around in the store.  They were not very organized if you ask me.
Observing the layout some more and also how they store their wines I noticed a couple of things. In the back they had an 8 door refrigerator that held wines and liquor at a very cold temperature. In that refrigerator I saw chardonnay and champagne. This stunned me because in the other section of the store at room temperature I saw chardonnay and champagne. The way most and all of the wines were store was either sitting up on shelves or titled on a rack.
Finding the price for each wine wasn’t hard. Each wine had a price tag. Most were cheap but the most expensive ones were kept in a cabinet closed with a lock and key. The most expensive bottle was about 600$. There were no sales or benefits as far I saw. I think that each wine had a price so that customers won’t have to ask for the price.
The employees weren’t friendly. I called North End and Wine and liquor and the person who picked up phone gave off this great personality so I was happy to go. Once I got there it’s like they didn’t even notice I was there. They didn’t even greet me. I tried to ask a sales associate who was bring in boxes a question and he totally ignored me. It was pretty rude. Also they didn’t even care that I was taking photos of their wine bottles.
Visiting this wine shop was definitely a different experience. I see why waiting till I was further more into the course made a difference. I notice how knowledgeable I am in wines now. “It’s because I study wine” – Professor Goodlad. If anyone was looking for a customer friendly wine shop I wouldn’t recommend this location or store. It’s not because it’s in the Bronx, but because they did not show any knowledge of wines. Why go to a wine shop as a first timer not knowing which bottle to buy and get ignored by the people that work there that can’t even help you?
You paid attention to detail. That rereidgerator is for “buy now/drink now” items and is important to many producers that their wines are in the refridgerator.
I appreciate that you included photos, I would not have expected a gewurtraminer to be in a bottle with brown colors. I feel it would make the consumer think it is a red wine.
Though the class is over I hope you will continue to study wine!