Photo Karen Graham.
Alison Wehrie is putting her mark on the wine shop she and husband, Richard, purchased last month. Bring on the colour!
When they purchased the building at 16 King St. East on April 1st, Alison Wehrle and Richard Dance knew they wanted to make some changes in the interior of the Millbrook Winery location.
The business is a make-your-own wine shop, selling a wide variety of wine kits where customers return to bottle and label their beverages on site. Alison was very familiar with the organization and its product lines, having been a happy customer for many years. When she learned that owner Alan Parker and his wife had decided to retire and sell the building which houses the shop, Alison and Richard jumped at the opportunity to step in.
Both are adventurous when it comes to wine, and have sampled many of the products on offer, so they can speak clearly to customers about their products. The business offers wine kits from Vineco and RJS which both have full product lines from “cheap and cheerful” wines with four week fermentation periods to the more expensive lines which contain more concentrates. All kits produce 30 bottles of wine.
Alison loves to chat with customers, and explains that taking on this retail outlet gets her “out of the woods” as she lives in a forested area south of town. She led the work from home trend and has worked at home for ten years, running a family business from her computer. She has plans to connect with other local businesses to build her business. She recently convinced a bride-to-be visiting Menzies House to purchase her gown to order her wedding wine from the shop- two sizes: one for the dining tables and half bottles as wedding favours. She has more ideas on that front…
The couple has been busy changing things up in the shop and making the retail area more colourful and inviting. Plans to replace the sinks and racks in the bottling area will help streamline the process and make better use of the space. Retired owner Alan Parker has been extremely helpful, providing on-site training and advice as the couple start to operate their new venture. They also appreciate how smoothly the purchase transaction proceeded, and credit agent James Steigerwald of Bewdley Realty with making this happen.
Because both owners have full-time day jobs, the shop hours will be limited. At the moment the shop is open Wednesday to Friday from 10:00am to 4:00pm and on Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00pm. They invite you to drop in and check out their new look. KG
