Saturday, February 12, 2011

BevWars

Just in time to cash in on the holidays, this BevMo opened in Glendale. For years there was one BevMo in Pasadena, but they've recently been reproducing at a curious clip.

BevMo is a comprehensive beverage-and-more store, your one stop social gathering destination. Half the store is wine, the other half spirits, both sides interspersed with other necessary party needs: snacks, cheese, glass ware, cigars, caviar, beer-water-soda and mixers. They are notable for the 5-cent sale where, if you're a BevMo member, you buy one bottle and get the second one for...5 cents. Here's an interesting bit of info on that one.

So why the sudden proliferation of BevMos? Total Wine...& More. Started in Delaware, now in ten states, including a recent handful in California (the nearest here is, I think, Northridge?), they are on the move and BevMo is scrambling to get into our massive-sized wine store psyches first.

How will this play out for the traditional wine store? I went to BevMo when it first opened. It was a mess, and the kids working there seemed ill-equipped to answer a single wine question. I went back this week to see how they've settled in, and the store remains disheveled and unappealing...to me...and the wine unremarkable.










For a better quality wine experience, try these local stores:
Topline Wine. (and spirits)
Rosso Wine Shop
Mission Wine and Spirits
Whole Foods (the beer department is making quite a name for itself)
55 Degree Wine (and beer)
Red Carpet Wine (beer and spirits)



How can you go wrong with a whole section devoted to boxed wine?











Just in time for Valentine's day...looks like that ChocoVine is flying off the shelves.