I had my first disgruntled ex-Garnet customer walk in today. Her words paraphrased:
“Everyone who knows about wine is gone. The owner is rude and was bragging about how they are going to put all the other stores in the neighborhood out of business but the shelves are bare. Why would I want to shop there any more? Many other customers I know are now looking for a new place to shop.”
To be continued…
A boon for you guys, and Mister Wright, and K&D, and Crush . . . I know my mom (a looooong-time Garnet customer) is done with them for good, and she’s not even a wine person.
I was in the (relatively) new K&D a week or two ago. I was seriously underwhelmed by the selection, and the prices were really high. Does anyone go there? The old place was always hot, but they had a big selection at least.
I live a block away. The upstairs is too hot; ironically, that’s where they keep the trophy bottles. The downstairs is OK temp wise. The selection is much worse than in the old place. The prices are sort of high but they have sales a couple of times a year that can be very aggressive and bring prices to attractive levels - e.g, they recently had a 20% off sparkling wine, which led to some W-S low prices on certain bottles.
The good store in Carnegie Hill now is Vynl (sp?), on Lex b/w 96th and 97th. Pricing is a smidge high but the selection is super for such a small store, and very interesting / creative. That has become my go-to cash and carry place.
Stopped by yesterday while running Christmas errands. Pricing on some wines recently increased dramatically. Saw Clos de Tart '06 on shelf on main floor - at room temp - for $699; '08 on shelf on main floor for $500. A few Rousseau '12s just in - Charmes '12 priced at $700. Walked right out.
I ordered a case of odds and ends like this last month, the order went to processed, but my card was never charged and several days later when I didn’t get a shipping confirmation I called, they said they were still looking for some of the items, and I asked them to let me know after the weekend what they found. A month later I haven’t heard a thing. Oh well.
I dropped by Garnet 10 days ago. Things looked a bit better than I’d expected, but a lot of the stock was from before the sale, and pretty picked over in terms of good stuff.
The German section was distressing. They’d filled the shelves with cheap wines with cute names from producers and importers I’d never heard of. If that’s where they’re headed with all their wines, the store won’t be of interest to any of us anymore.
I was amused at the Burgundies that they’ve moved up to the center aisle. They arranged the bottles neck out so you have to read the labels upside down.
Noticed another example of price increases. Pergole Torte '11 - used to be $100; now priced at $140. Bought previously there for $85, why pay $112 now? The are jacking up prices.
Do they give you a 20% discount on the marked-up prices, a la Zachy’s?
John - previously paid $85 (after 15% discount) for the PT '11, now they charge $112 (after 20% discount) – so my point is they are raising prices on the “old Garnet” inventory. I will not support this.
And in the past, I only bought what I knew had been stored in the cold room downstairs. I no longer have confidence that the slower turning better wine will be properly stored.
Wow. That seems like a strategy to ensure failure.
The reports of the demise of Garnet may have been premature or at least somewhat exaggerated. I stopped by today and found some good wines (new arrivals) at the lowest prices I’ve seen in Manhattan. But the big surprise was news from one of the owners that they are going to expand the floor space significantly by taking over one of the adjacent stores. You can hardly walk in the store as they’ve brought in temporary shelving. A bit chaotic, but if you look around, you can find some bargains.
I haven’t been to Garnet in a couple of months, but I find it funny to read the 2015 posts and wonder if I had been in the same store.
The store was a bit of a mess, but there were some interesting bottles to be had - especially with the 20% off.
I might just stop by this week and will report back…
DO NOT BUY THERE. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. LAST TWO TIMES I WAS THERE THE A/C WAS BROKEN AND THE TEMP ON THE FLOOR WAS EASILY 80+. Please, do not be suckered in! I couldn’t believe what I saw!
I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, so the heat really didn’t bother me David. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
It was so warm I was literally sweating
AC was on this evening and the temperature was as cool as any wine store in NYC. The new ceiling-high racks are overwhelming and things are pretty chaotic. Some wines are pretty much inaccessible at the moment – certainly if you’re too big to squeeze between some narrow gaps.
Perusing the selection, it appear there are far fewer interesting wines at the high end.
Italians: The mid-priced range on the high south wall are pretty much what they always were – good selection of good producers at very good producers. But the Barolo selection is not what it once was. There are a number of producers I’ve never heard of from importers I’ve never heard of, including a couple of 2008s, which I’d guess were close-outs from the cantine or the distributors. Also, the appellations are getting mixed up. There was a Barolo next to an Amarone next to and IGT Toscano. I don’t really follow Brunello that closely, but I think that selection is much narrower.
Rhone: Four or five Graillot bottlings and some Chave, but Balthazar, which they’d stocked for years, was gone, as was the Levet. I can’t really recall another big name in that section. Generally thinner.
Burgundy: I didn’t look closely, but this seems to be much weaker than it was and there seem to be large swaths of shelf with single wines.
German: Still a number of good producers, but the selection seemed kind of random – a Kabinett from this producer, a Spatlese from that, etc. There are some producers I’d never seen from importers I’d never heard of. Oh, and no Prum. In the past they’d always had a couple of bottlings.
California: At the moment, much of this is on high shelves or partly obstructed. It will be easier to assess when they finish the rearrangement.
Overall still some interesting wines at very good prices. But also a lot of crud that wasn’t there before. And a lot of wines were in the wrong slot, or in two slots. Maybe it’s the current chaos, but it looked like either no one knows wine or they can’t be bothered to keep the store organized.
At least now they have the actual, discounted price on the shelf by each bottle so you don’t have to do the discount math yourself.
I was in Garnet this afternoon for the first time since the summer and it’s even more chaotic than six months ago: boxes stacked up in the aisles as you enter, lots of empty shelves, whole walls of racks filled with wine with no prices posted, wines from different regions side by side on the same shelf. (There was Pouilly Fume next to Pouilly Fuisse, Hermitage and Beaujolais on one rack; Brunello next to Barolo).
It’s a disaster area. And no one there appears to know anything. It’s hard to imagine they’re selling much wine. Customers were wandering around asking for help and not finding anyone. It looked like the only employees other than the managers were stock boys.
Really said for someone who was a fan of the late, great Garnet.
Wow, that’s sad
There’s still a fair deal of good wine there, and some very good prices. But it’s very hard to find the right aisle, and the staff appear pretty clueless.
You kind of wonder if they aren’t losing out on the holiday season in a big way with all that chaos. There were a few customers, but no one who seemed to be looking for higher end stuff.