Total Wine coming to NYS

In what may or may not be new news for some of you, Total Wine is finally coming to NYS and more specifically to Westbury, NY in an old sports authority location and is scheduled to open in the fall of this year.

Interesting, as they are coming to San Ramon this fall in another ex-Sports Authority location. They had opened stores in a few locations in the Bay Area in the last twelve months. They have an impressive selection of wine, liquor and beer.

Thanks,
Ed

Since NY State only allows one store per licensee, it’s interesting that they even bother. Are they in NJ or CT?

I think they are in both?

They are in NJ. Waste of time going there.

I live near there. Can someone pls give me the quick rundown on Total Wine?

I currently have a problem with the Miami store , as they shorted me 3 of a sealed box of 6 -2010 Dominus. I will post the results when they advise of their actions.

Ned, so the box was sealed with only 3 bottles in it and charged you for 6?

Yes. Bought 2 -6 packs and one was 3 short.
I’ll advise when they decide what they will do.
If they don’t make me full, CC will be contacted.

I live near there. Can someone pls give me the quick rundown on Total Wine?

Like Trader Joe’s wine dept but bigger. A lot of own label stuff, some other huge mass market wines. Prices standard retail. Staff knows little to nothing. If you want to get a bottle of Franciscan Cab or St. Francis Old Vine Zin, you can probably find it for a buck or so less elsewhere. It’s just a big chain store that needs to sell producers who put out hundreds of thousands of cases. Unlike Costco, the local stores don’t often have occasional great deals on small production stuff. No reason to get excited.

However, they’ll likely be pushing for NY to stop the laws on one store per person. People get around that today by having family and friends stand in as “owners” but eventually that law will be repealed.

About the time the three-tier system is abolished. [snort.gif]

I don’t know man, I don’t think comparing TW to Trader Joe’s is accurate at all. Sure, Total Wine has plenty of the ‘standard/grocery store’ stuff…but they also have a solid selection of decent stuff, and even some higher end bottles as well (check out the stuff they have in the temp-controlled glass cases - even slightly older French offerings).

I’ve found prices to be pretty good on the every day type wines, but definitely a little pricey on the higher end stuff. It probably will never be your go-to/every day wine shop…but you could definitely do worse, and it’s always a safe spot if you’re traveling or close by and need something.

And each location has a different selection, which i assume they try to stock based on where the store is located.

IIRC the wines are shelved by region and variety just like every other wine store. However they are then stored in large bins and lined up alphabetically rather than by price. It takes much longer to check out the selection because you have to look at every bin.

Rich - depends on the state and what the distributors are allowed to do in that state, as well as what they have available. We sold to them for a while. They wanted a different label on some wines, so we made it for them. If they have a clientele that might spring for some good stuff, they’ll stock it, but the store a few miles away might not.

They opened one near my house in N MA in Danvers coincidentally in an old Sports Authority. They have one in Everett and Natick. They do have a ton of good stuff in lock up display that is fairly priced but not much in the way of bargains that most us seem to find. They offer a 10% discount on mix six. With that I was able to get 12/13 Spotts-$142/$153 (best prices comparing WSP) and a Verite Cabernet La Joie, 2013 for $269 which was the best price in the state by close to $100, plus 2 Pahlmeyer Merlot Napa, 2013 to round out the six pack for $72 which was priced on par with the rest of the country. I’ll check to see what they have on line from time to time but it will not be a regular stop.

Yep, that makes sense on the way they stock the stores, as I have been at a couple locations that didn’t seem to have quite as much of the higher-end stuff. And super interesting on the re-label thing. Appreciate the inside feedback Greg!

Thanks all for the info. Guess I will check it out for myself and come to my own conclusions.

I am far from happy with TW, but I have to say that I’ve not had any worse of an experience there versus other retail in the Seattle area. I find the retail outlets here to be rather subpar.

One thing I appreciate at TW is that, while I don’t do the majority of my purchasing there, I can look online before I head in and find what I’m looking for. i.e. I was meeting up with some buddies in Vegas and wanted to grab a bottle for a special dinner. I didn’t want to check a bag so I just looked online ahead of time and had my Uber stop at the S Strip TW. I picked up a Scarecrow M. Etain for ~$120 after using a coupon.

I went to the Milford CT store.
Big operation, selling big volumes of brand-name but boring wines.
Good place to stock up for a Memorial Day BBQ, with little worth collecting.

Article in yesterday’s Boston Globe