GREENFIELD — The Wine Rack was bottled up for good last weekend as owner Melissa Winters prepares to consolidate her liquor stores.
Winters and her husband, Chris Sexton, purchased The Wine Rack space at 70 Main St., estimated by Winters to have been a liquor store since the 1950s, in 2005. They own four stores: The Wine Rack, Deerfield River Liquors in Deerfield, Connecticut River Liquors in Turners Falls and Ruggeri’s Discount Beverage and Redemption Center in Greenfield, the couple’s most recent purchase in 2018.
Closure of The Wine Rack, Winters said, was necessitated by the number of stores being too overwhelming.
“It fit in with our vision at the time,” said Winters, referencing the couple’s goals when they bought Ruggeri’s for their fourth store. “But we realized that four stores was just too much for us.”
Stock remaining from The Wine Rack will be transferred to the couple’s other stores, Winters said. As the owners consolidate, they also intend to begin providing “specialty items that would pair well with wines,” such as sauces, cheeses and “more gourmet food options.”
“Basically,” Winters explained, “we are looking to focus more on our other three stores and expand our selection at the Turners Falls and Deerfield locations.”
The Main Street space was purchased by McGovern Chevrolet, which acquired the former Dillon Chevrolet dealership in February.
Ben Muenzberg, general manager for McGovern Chevrolet, confirmed the purchase of the adjacent property, and said it was an act of “thinking ahead for some improvements.”
“We definitely are looking to improve the facility here and use that space as part of the dealership,” he said.
Even after the sale, Winters said she and Sexton currently retain their liquor license and wouldn’t rule out eventually opening another store elsewhere.
“We might open up at a different location once we have some time to reorganize ourselves,” she said, “or we might sell our license to someone else.”
For now, though, Winters bids adieu to Greenfield’s Main Street.
“It is a little bittersweet in that it was my first store. I learned a lot and met a lot of nice people here,” she said. “It has been a very good experience being a part of the downtown business area, but I do look forward to seeing customers in other locations.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.