Things are moving fast behind the scenes, and it’s both daunting and exhilarating. We’re working with Sharon Celek of Celek Interiors, who’s been absolutely fantastic – the design for the shop & bar is looking really good, and having assistance dealing with all logistical things that need to happen for the build-out is invaluable. Now that we’ve got the design, we can start ordering furniture and shelving and having the bar and custom shelving built for us. (Soon our space will not look as empty as it currently does in the picture!)
Aimee’s also working nonstop on health dept. meetings, point-of-sales computer system, working with market vendors to develop our food menu, sourcing merchandise, and too many other things to mention.
I’m still working from afar – I’m in CA preparing for my MW exam, and will be driving out after that’s done the first week of June – on coordinating our alcohol permit, getting our marketing going, and the really fun job of putting our wine inventory and lists together. I’ve been in touch with a few distributors thus far and have their portfolios, so I’m like a kid in a candy store. Let’s see, a Barolo here, a Kamptal Grüner Veltliner there, and hmm, how many Rieslings do we want to carry? I’ll get a rough idea of what we want over the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll do some serious power-tasting once I arrive. (Trust me, it’s hard work, really it is.)
We’ve gotten really positive reactions from everybody that we’ve been talking to – people in Aimee’s spin classes at the gym, market customers who’ve seen our signs, friends of friends who’ve been spreading the word, etc – so we’re even more excited about our venture and how it will be received. Got some nice press the last couple of days as well – this article from onmilwaukee.com and this one from Milwaukee Small Business TImes.