The 'Lowe's' and 'Home Depot' of Liquor Opens

By presenting a huge range of wine, beer and liquor in a warehouse setting, Cork-N-Barrel aims to become a regional shopping destination not just a neighborhood store.

"We will provide the best possible service with a large inventory in a destination store," Chris Van Steen said. "Our store will be similar to Lowe's or Home Depot with a retail flare."

Shoppers are starting to check out the store, which opened a few weeks ago in the new shopping complex just south of Sand Hill Plaza, on South Main Street. It joins a couple of large and several small stores in town, all featuring wine, beer and various other liquor while catering to a neighborhood or the town as a whole.

The new cavernous store, with a high ceiling and 6,000-square-feet of floor space, is filled with rows of steel shelves containing more than 50,000 bottles of wine, beer, liquor and spirits. A 20-foot custom-made fan hovers over the retail space.

A first-time shopper, Marian Hamm, of Monroe, bought some Barefoot pinot grigio and said, "I'll be back."

Alice Salvas, of Monroe, also visiting for the first time, marveled at the gigantic display and purchased Canadian whiskey, white zinfandel and brandy.

"The store is big, very nice with so much to choose from," said Susan Toikka, of Newtown.

Van Steen said he and his partner, Wayne Duris, who have experience in the automotive and finance fields, created the Cork-N-Barrel business in 2009 and spent about two years planning and finding a suitable location for it.

Aside from offering a tremendous inventory designed to appeal to all tastes and pocketbooks, Van Steen said the store will feature wine tastings at a circular bar Saturdays from 2 to 7 p.m. and a 400-square-foot cooler to chill wine and beer.

"Everyone's tastes are different," he said. "Who's to say what someone thinks is good another person should like? We have something for everyone."

The store's inventory also features a wide range of prices.

"We have a $169.99 bottle of Caymus cabernet," Van Steen said. "But, we also sell a $3.99 bottle of Pinecrest chardonnay."

Instead of just offering Johnny Walker whiskey in the red or black label, the store also carries the beverage in the more costly green, gold or blue labels. The red label, the least expensive choice, sells for $21.99 a fifth, while a fifth of the top quality blue label containing a rare whiskey blend costs $199.99.

Such ranges in price and quality are found throughout the store. Its offerings include vast selections of wine, gin, port and liqueurs. There is a 160-foot display of vodka, every flavor and kind, for example.

The store also contains a tremendous display of California wine, divided by type, while the foreign wines from France, Spain, Italy, Chile, Australia and other counties are grouped on shelves under large signs.

Aside from wine tastings, Van Steen is also planning to offer beer tastings to introduce customers to microbrews and other aspects of his stock, such as Belgium beer.

Customers will learn to make fancy martinis and other mixed drinks during workshops in the summer season, he said.

What remains to be seen is how the new store, still unfolding, will affect Newtown's other liquor stores.

Stop and Save Liquors, at Sand Hill Plaza, and Yankee Discount Wines and Liquors, at the shopping center on Queen Street, have been the town's largest liquor stores for a number of years, both under the same ownership.

Stop and Save now has a large sign on its window, boasting a selection of more than 1,000 types and brands of wine from 12 counties. An employee of the store, Jeremy Currier, said he hoped the store's inviting atmosphere and huge selection, which features wine, microbrew beer, sake, mead and some hard to find items, will help maintain its customer base.

Chris Ciskey, manager at Yankee Discount that has a range of product similar to its sister store, declined comment.