Gary's Wine & Marketplace in NJ

Please delete this thread.

Bottle King is terrific for price and selection

I’ve never been to Gary’s but I think every woman in this hobby has experienced the exact same treatment, or worse, in multiple stores and restaurants. Or even on wine boards.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I buy from the Gary’s store in Madison NJ and let Rich guide my purchase if I go out of my comfort zone.

I’ve never been in the store, but have bought online for 20 years with great experience. This Sales rep is an ass! Sorry you had that experience.

I’ve had very similar experiences at Total Wine, where you have a barely trained but excitable young Sales Rep push crap and make recos that are so outside of the realm of what you would ever consider buying. I normally just politely tell them “I’ve got this”.

I lived in NJ most of my life and frequented both Bottle King and Gary’s, among others. BK has the sharpest pricing, but the stock can be very heavy on the many unfamiliar private labels and very light on the things that I and I think many WBers would be interested in. But it is always worth a look. Sometimes they have it, sometimes not. Gary’s is a very reliable store with a much broader selection of “the good stuff”. They sell bordeaux on futures at competitive pricing. Both stores at all of there locations are staffed with people that are basically stock clerks or cashiers. The few that are knowledgeable may have some training but, as at all stores, have their own palates that may differ from yours. At this point in my life, I tend to shop for what I am specifically looking for and ignore the staff other than for inventory help or if we hit on some common theme of conversation. My favorite shop was Central Wine Merchants in Flemington. I had a decades long relationship with them, and good access to the goodies. The shop does not have a refrigerated section, which has been criticized on the board, but they get the goods and for the most part, it does not last on the shelves. Good store but again, their palates were different than mine.

They used to be a great place to score Juge.

I wouldn’t have lasted as long as you did at any wine shop.

Reminds me of my experience at BestBuy a few years back buying a sound bar for my tv: told the guy my budget was $250, he steered me to a $600 Bose saying “this is the only one we have”. Two aisles over - wait for it - two dozen sound bars starting at $100.

This is why I buy all my electronics from Crutchfield.

That does sound like a horrible experience, but thankfully you were able to get what you needed at BK. Gary is a really good friend of a friend and I had dinner with him once, seemed like a nice guy. Virtually all my buying from Gary’s in online. The only time I deal with a real person is when I go to Madison to pick-up an order or buy some beer and that is always uneventful.

Bad experience, but it is one of those places I do buy online with no problems.

I met Gary along time ago; lovely guy and shrewd businessman. I will bet that he is reading this (hello Gary) and he will not like what he is reading, and probably will make some changes.

Maybe their burg blanc section is all aligote ?!

I will say hi Gary too. Last time I saw him was when he was setting up the Napa store in the old Dean and Deluca location next to Press….the year leading into Covid. I suspect he spends most of his time there now. He is a good guy and a shrewd business man.

Mike, sorry you had a poor experience. Like Lee and Jon, I only frequent the Madison store, which I have been doing for over a decade, as I live locally. Both Rick and Rich at the store are fixtures and have always provided me with great/respectful service, so it stinks you did not find the same in Wayne. I will note that I also fall under the category of a “younger” buyer. Started shopping there in my early 20s.

They have a solid selection and provide decent Bordeaux futures pricing/selection and a lot of great selection on allocated California wine, like Lewelling, Pott, vice versa, memento mori, etc. Not to mention they have always taken back a corked bottle of wine. So for those reasons and the service, they have kept me in the door.

Gary’s and BK (and wine library) were my local wine stores for decades. I still buy from BK, as their pricing is terrific. Gary’s (madison location) was great - solid selection and my staff interactions were very different from what you described.

I think your experience was a one-off based on one uninformed employee, and while it sucks to be treated that way, I would not generalize as something typical at Gary’s . Hopefully, someone there will see this thread, or you can always send customer service an email. I think they’d want to hear about your negative experience.

Thanks all for the responses. I’m sure it was a one off experience, or the guy “helping” me was having a bad day, so won’t read too much into the experience as indicative of the quality of service at store overall. It was a passing reference in my original post, but I had a great experience so figured I’d plug it again - Bottle King (also in Wayne NJ) was awesome with really fair prices. I found exactly what I was looking for (and grabbed a few other nice bottles), and the guy who helped me there was professional, respectful, and knowledgeable. If you’re ever in the area I recommend checking it out.

Both great stores. Funny story was I emailed them about one burg producer and got a “sorry it’s all allocated” response…then went to the store and found an even-more-allocated producer sitting on the shelf at “normal” retail, on sale to boot. BK can get some insane stuff but often the priciest stuff doesn’t show up online, just have to get lucky showing up on the right day.

I live equidistant from Gary’s and the Wine Library. I never had a great experience at Gary’s in the last 20 years. I find pricing and sales support to be much better at WL (at least until Ian left)

I don’t even both going to WL now that Ian is gone. You missed the '91 Monte Bello this week. I told the guys I was not going to bring it since you won’t be there, but they threatened me.

Mike,

Thank you for sharing feedback on your experience. This post was brought to my attention yesterday, and I have already met with our Wayne team to discuss your feedback and coach them on the proper way we interact with our guests. We know that our guests have many choices for where to shop, and therefore we strive to foster a friendly and educational shopping experience for everyone who walks in the door. I sincerely apologize that we could not offer this to you, but I am extremely grateful for you beginning this discussion as it provides an opportunity for us to train and retrain our team members.

I appreciate those of your who chimed in to share positive thoughts / experiences about Gary’s, as well as those who texted or called me directly to let me know about this discussion. For anyone who would like to share additional thoughts or feedback, I’m always happy to jump on the phone or meet in one of our stores. You can feel free to email me directly at gary@garyswine.com to begin a dialogue.

Gary

Gary Fisch
Founder & CEO, Gary’s Wine & Marketplace

Well done Gary, this is the right way to handle this and other similar customer service situations. Take responsibility, coach the team, and offer access and to personally address future issues…

Now, if I may offer one suggestion…you remade your Website a few years ago. I find it cumbersome to use and not as user friendly as many of your competitors sites. You might want to take a critical look at some of the other top wine store Websites across the country and see how your Website compares.