This is gonna get interesting.
I've always felt that Haskell's Minnetonka store is the chain's best, and one of the finest wine stores in the state. It's large, easy to navigate and has two of my favorite local wine folks, Lonny Isenberg and Mitch Spencer.
Well, the competition in the neighborhood is heating up, to say the least. Just this month, the national chain Vino 100 popped up in Plymouth, not far from a dandy little store that just celebrated its first birthday, Vinifera. A few months back, Trader Joe's debuted its latest local grocery and wine stores just down the frontage road from Haskell's, and earlier this year Big Top launched an outlet in that amorphous strip-mall haven known as Ridge Square.
Now comes word that Chicago Lake Liquors, known for its aggressive pricing, will set up shop virtually next door. Rumor is that it will be in the old Baker's Square building. Chicago Lake owner John Wolf is keeping tight-lipped about the project, but said in an email that the gameplan is for "a completely new concept for the Twin Cities market.."
It'll probably need to be that, and more. Word is that the Big Top store is struggling. And as Spencer noted, it makes little sense to have that many wine and spirits outlets in such close proximity. "The density of stores within a square mile is puzzling, but that's for the [Minnetonka] City Council to decide," he said. "It doesn't change how we're doing business."
Spencer, who is wine director for the entire chain, added that he'd prefer not to have yet another store in the area, but that it might well happen: "Given the economic times, liquor/wine seems to be a safe haven for tax benefits [for a city]."
His first and foremost thought: "Wish em luck, not many have done well" going up against Haskell's over the years.
