This is astounding to me, but Washington DC – a city with extremely hot summers, a lot of wine freaks, and a lot of people in apartments with no cellars – doesn’t seem to have many (any?) good wine storage facilities. At least not that I’ve found. There’s one place (The Wine Rack) that seems reputable enough, but it’s extremely expensive and offers basically no services beyond a temp-controlled locker that you can access for a total of two hours a week. A few other wine lockers around but they’re booked up 6+ months in advance.
I asked some other board members about this in PM and they said they’d come up empty too. But I’m throwing this open to the whole board in hope someone knows of something. My current area storage is sort of falling through and the wild swings in temperature lately have me a bit worried about continuing to hold the stuff I have in my apartment. Plus I can’t quite believe DC is so thin on good storage…seems like an obvious market niche here.
David Gray’s place in Glover Park is the only space I know about. It’s sad that we don’t have a place that offers access 7 days a week (instead of Wednesday/Saturday) or a place to open a few bottles with friends. Talk about a great opportunity for a new business!
At one point in time Wide World of Wines, which is also on Wisc. Ave. in Glover Park, rented out a limited number of storage units build in their basement area. I don’t know the deal currently. Probably no cheaper, but maybe better access.
I believe Stor-All in Fairfax offers wine storage. I called once and asked and they said they did, but I don’t really need the storage space yet. I don’t know what the conditions are like. It’s not that convenient if you live in the District.
I have been on the wait list at Wide Worlds for over 6 months now. I stopped holding my breath.
It’s a shame too. I basically moved all my wines into my parents’ basement, since I have no other alternatives. I know, it’s sad I’m still leaching off my parents. But even though my wines are sleeping there, at least I’m not.
If anyone wants to start a wine storage business in DC, preferably Metro accessible, you got a customer right here.
Very interesting. Although the issue might be less the investment resources than the time to run the thing. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong with setting something like this up. Still, I’d be interested…PM me.
Ian and I talked about this the first night we met I think. If every bone in my body wasn’t risk averse, I’d go in on this. I have my wine at David’s place. Saw him today in fact when I went to drop of a couple of cases in my now very full locker. Nice enough guy, though each year before I write that check for next year’s dues I make sure to apply plenty of lube in preparation for the ass raping I’m about to receive. The reason he can charge so much is that there is very little competition inside the beltway for him, something that everyone who’s already commented here has already found out.
If anyone is seriously interested in starting this business, I’d be happy to offer input or feedback. I’m 16 years in to running my storage facility, and it’s the best/smartest thing I ever did. Wine storage is a relatively simply business, and if you have the right market and can find the right location, it can be a wonderful, and profitable, business to be in. It seems there is a market and demand in DC, and should be a slam dunk, unless there are local regulations making it more difficult than it should be. Over the years, I have met more friends, and drunk insanely great wine with them, than I could have imagined.
There’s also a place at around Florida Ave and 18th NW, called “Security Storage,” that does temperature controlled wine storage.
Storage at World of Wine has been at capacity for years (I know, as I asked to be put on a waiting list about two years ago.) I’ve heard great things about David Gray’s place, but I’m fairly certain he’s only open about six hours each week – and that’s all the time you have to deliver your wine, pick up your wine, etc.
It’s definitely a market that’s ripe for investment…
At least two groups have looked into opening wine storage facilities in the VA/DC area, one coming as close as having a location in mind, somewhere near Eisenhower Ave. off the beltway, I think. Both efforts fizzled out for one reason or another.
I agree about the need; what we have now is either quite expensive/very inconvenient, or full up for the forseeable future.
In California there seem to be almost as many wine storage facilities as places to get espresso.
Chuck, do you provide services to the WA wine industry as well? I always assumed there were so many storage facilities in CA because they double as warehouse space for wineries.
Jody, we provide services to private individuals and a few higher end restaurants, as do almost all of the CA storage facilities, to my knowledge. Wineries, etc. have very different requirements, and there are two bonded wine facilities in Western WA that do pallet storage, stacked 20-30 feet high. That’s not my business.
we are on it. I have been watching the DC market for sometime, and been focused on our St. Louis and Chicago operations. However, the pieces have fallen in place and we have been working hard to evaluate DC. We have the experience and the capital, and are now at the stage of finding the right spot.
Any suggestions or requests are welcome, I have already spoken to many of you and appreciate the input.
When do you think you would be opening up? Are you still in the preliminary stages of deciding whether to enter, or have you advanced to the point where there is a clear time frame? Thanks much.
Got it. Thanks for the direct answer to an indirect question. I always assumed the lack of storage options here in DC was because personal storage (exclusively) wouldn’t be profitable. Real estate inside the beltway is probably cost prohibitive, but then if you live downtown and still have enough disposable income to demand external storage, you could probably swing the fees that cost would demand.
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