Thank you to the reader that alerted me to the fact that Saratoga Wine Exchange (located on Phila Street behind Ben & Jerry's) apparently will soon be moving to Round Lake, according to this Craig's List Ad which mentions "the move will occur in the next couple of months to Round Lake (Exit 11)" and lists The Wine Exchanges' phone number.
Wheras I am sad to see any business leave downtown, at least this is a move and not a closing. More importantly, it seems to be driven by the concentration of liquor and wine stores here in the Spa City, rather than a lousy economy. There are at least four stores selling wine within walking distance to Saratoga Wine Exchange (Crush & Cask, Putnam Wines, Purdy's and the Swedish Hill Winery), three more stores within a 5 minute drive, and those seven don't even include the new wine tasting room planned for the former Kimberly Inn location. It's just too many in a small area, and presumably Round Lake would give the place some breathing room.
Well, let's hope the move goes well and that another business moves into Saratoga Wine Exchange's location soon.
It's a sorry loss for Saratoga's Spirits. Their selection in the high-end is without equal, making gift-giving even tougher in a town awash in everyday hootch.
Posted by: Kyle York | March 21, 2012 at 01:30 PM
Let me clarify a couple of things here. We are planning a move to Exit 11 (New Hannaford plaza under construction), we are shooting to move at the end of April (waiting on Liquor board approval), we have not officially announced it because we don't have a liquor license approval yet.
As for the reasons for our move - there are many 1) Our lease is up and we could not negotiate a new one that suited our needs. 2)The town has taken away all of the short term parking spots in the spring street lot that we needed to be successful down town 3) The town allowed a private company to illegally use town property (according to town laws)for private use - they put up a fence that blocked the spring street parking lot off for 2 YEARS effectively destroying our through the door business. 3) we need more room for our shipping business which now makes up 80% of our sales at www.saratogawine.com and it includes locals who do pickups at the shop in addition to our shipping nationwide. 4) The point above about how many liquor store there are in town is correct and I can't believe there are 2 more coming to the area.
All in all it is time to get out of town - not a real small business friendly atmosphere (they will fall all over themselves if you want to build a condo though), high rents, no parking and loads of competition.
Had a good 10 year run and love our local customers but not enough business to justify the hassle of doing business downtown. I wonder how many businesses will have to leave before they realize that a town full of only bars, restaurants, and condo's won't thrive in the long run.
We are looking at doing a local delivery day to Saratoga for our long time customers who shop online. Watch the email for updates on that.
We have or Liquor Board Meeting on August 27th so we should be able to make a formal announcement after that with a target move date.
We have a pretty great moving sale planned so check by the shop in April for significant wine savings - going to be up to 25% off when you buy 12 bottles or more.
Thanks for all the support over the years.
Sincerely,
Joshua Hiebel - Owner
Posted by: Josh Hiebel | March 23, 2012 at 04:08 PM
Joshua - thank you for the clarications and the honesty and passion you bring to your field. I was getting mad at the city as I read your comments - this city succeeds despite the government, not because of it.
Posted by: Dan | March 24, 2012 at 07:10 AM
I'm a local and didn't get to your store as often as I should have. Sorry to see you leave Saratoga. Will continue to get and read your emails and support you more in the future. Loved the 90 plus rated under $20.
Posted by: Tom | March 24, 2012 at 10:07 PM
As someone who commutes from Saratoga to Schenectady and passes by this plaza daily, looking forward to the new Hannaford and all the other merchants it brings to the Malta area! Best of luck to you.
Posted by: A Facebook User | March 25, 2012 at 07:43 PM
Appreciate everyone's comments and support. I am really looking forward to the new space. It is about 1200 square feet larger than we have now which will give our shipping department the space they need to continue to expand. I encourage everyone to use the website to shop - we now have about 16000 wines online with very competitive prices and there are no delivery charges if you choose the in-store pickup option. Which will be very easy to do with the shop right off the Northway.
I will try to remember to post our grand opening tasting dates and info here when we actually get the shop set up (targeting May 1).
Josh
Posted by: Josh Hiebel | March 26, 2012 at 04:26 PM
Well everyone we finally got out approval from the state liquor authority to move forward this week. Our moving sale has already begun. Online prices are already marked down, and in store we are offering a 25% discount when you buy any 12 bottles of wine. As long as they are not already on sale.
We are looking to be open at the new shop around the beginning of may. I will post our grand opening tasting schedule here.
Josh
Posted by: Josh Hiebel | March 29, 2012 at 03:36 PM
Thought I would take a moment to update this status. We have completed our move and are now open at the new location. Pretty convenient to get to just off exit 11. For anyone commuting up the Northway its probably easier to get to our new location than the one downtown - and there is plenty of parking (finally). Selection is larger than in Saratoga and our prices have dropped significantly on most of our in store items. We also have a new tasting bar with tastings every Friday night from 4-8pm. Look forward to seeing everyone at the new location.
Joshua Hiebel - Owner
Posted by: Josh Hiebel | June 13, 2012 at 05:28 PM