What a week! I arrived here late Sunday night (major storms in Iowa and here slowed me down, but compared to what so many people have been through, it was a breeze) and it fits like a glove. Aimee and I love our new place (we bought a loft in the Warehouse Lofts, in view of the MPM and a 4-minute walk to it), everyone we’ve met has been so excited about what we’re doing, and we’re moving fast getting the shop going.
We’re targeting the week of July 9 for the opening, which is coming up fast.
If you’ve been by our space in the public market, it doesn’t look like much is going on. Taste of Wisconsin still has merchandise in the space near the wall, and the middle space is a hodge-podge of counters, seating, and miscellaneous equipment. Behind the scenes, though, we’re hopping. Working with Sharon Celek, our interior designer, we’ve got our schematic and design finalized and everything’s in process. Shelving, tables, chairs, and bar stools have been ordered and are on their way, we’ve got an amazing woodworker building out our custom bar and woodwork out of reclaimed wood as I type this, Badger Railing was in today to measure for our metalwork and the railing that will enclose our seating area, under-bar coolers (“reach-ins”) and dishwashers have been purchased, etc.
It’s all happening off-site, so it’ll come together really quickly. We’re targeting the week of the 9th for our opening, which is definitely attainable. Stressful (is it really already June 17!?!), but attainable. Costs are coming in higher than we hoped, but that’s to be expected with any build-out and I built enough flexibility into the budget so that we’ll be fine – with our savings, some help from family, and a small business loan (thanks Johnson Bank!) that we’re closing on tomorrow, it’s all good. The space will be fantastic and we’ve got the ability to stock the wines we want, which is all that matters.
Speaking of that, Aimee and I have been tasting some beautiful wines in the last week. I’m spending my days weeding through distributor portfolios to look for the wines that we might be interested in, setting up meetings, sampling a lot of wines (some good, some not so much, and some just not the right fit), and we’re definitely separating the wheat from the chaff for you. Our goal is to have every wine on the shelf be something you can trust. You may not know the producer, the varietal, or the region, but you can know that it’s going to be good.