Liquor Barn sold

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/story/892316.html

that is a darn shame

one more reason to shop at the Keg

buy local

somewhat on topic - who owns Liquor World? I tend to get them and LB confused. I tried to use "the Google" but my magic search terms didn't lead me to the promised land.

Given that from our home in Buckner the L.B. is the most convienient place to buy beer, Becky and I will be taking a "wait and see" approach to this one. The "Canadian firm" is going to have to "f" it up pretty bad before we'll quit going there. We support the concept of buying/dining local whenever it's practical but I'm not going to cut my nose off to spite my face just because an out of town company bought our favorite liquor store...So lets not get crazy here.

Given that from our home in Buckner the L.B. is the most convienient place to buy beer, Becky and I will be taking a "wait and see" approach to this one. The "Canadian firm" is going to have to "f" it up pretty bad before we'll quit going there. We support the concept of buying/dining local whenever it's practical but I'm not going to cut my nose off to spite my face just because an out of town company bought our favorite liquor store...So lets not get crazy here.

there's an open can of worms crawling from that post, but it's too late and I'm too nice to start anything. Unfortunately, I was giving myself the same pep talk while buying produce at Kroger today.

Given that from our home in Buckner the L.B. is the most convienient place to buy beer, Becky and I will be taking a "wait and see" approach to this one. The "Canadian firm" is going to have to "f" it up pretty bad before we'll quit going there. We support the concept of buying/dining local whenever it's practical but I'm not going to cut my nose off to spite my face just because an out of town company bought our favorite liquor store...So lets not get crazy here.

there's an open can of worms crawling from that post, but it's too late and I'm too nice to start anything. Unfortunately, I was giving myself the same pep talk while buying produce at Kroger today.

Not trying to "stir the pot"...just my thoughts on the matter.

Liquor Barn is a fantastic party store that is well run, and from what I have been told is a very good employer. Hopefully that side of the business does not change for the employees. That is always my concern when a business gets taken over by a much larger company. A lot of functions that are handled locally tend to go away (Accounting, finance, marketing, IT, and more) to the larger company.

I go to a wine tasting there once or twice a month, and I'm really quite terrified now. Their owner has always been a huge supporter of wine, and he's friends with many growers and negociants. I really hope that the new company will pay as much attention to their wine selection, and continue to bring in other wines unique to Liquor Barn at the same great prices we've seen. Somehow I doubt that corporate Canada will be able to do that though.

As for the wine tastings every month, the former owner has always given them a great amount of leeway in regards to how many different wines we can sample, and how much the organizers can spend on any given tasting. The result has been low prices and great wines, with a 15% discount off of almost any wine you buy afterward. I've been going to these for two years now, and if they stop then I'm going to be thoroughly depressed!

I'm having a difficult time classifying the rest of my fear and disappointment right now, so I guess I'll save it for later.

[Robin Garr]

I'm having a difficult time classifying the rest of my fear and disappointment right now, so I guess I'll save it for later.

Paul, I've been a big fan of these stores for a long time, but I will say this: When the Lexington-based Liquor Barn firm bought out the local-and-Northern Kentucky-based former owners, Party Source, a number of years ago, things changed in some ways then, with the result that the Louisville-area competition became much more keen. I, too, hope the new owners don't change things for the worse (although my personal experience with national corporate ownership when Gannett bought the newspapers from the Bingham family is not reassuring).

But I will say this: With Old Town, Gemelli, The Wine Rack, Wine Market, St. Matthews Wine Co. and many more, if the Liquor Barn stores dropped out of the top rank it would be sad, but it would no longer be a disaster as it would have been a decade ago.

I was told by someone from "Liquor World" that Liquor barn (outlet, whatever) is leaving the Springhurst location, and is moving to the renovated space that used to be the old Lincoln Mercury dealer on Shelbyville Road. This location is diagonally across the street from Beverage warehouse, and there is a legal dispute of some sort. (I guess the distance between them). It would be my guess that Liquor barn would buy out the lease of said Beverage warehouse. Phew. what a mess.

But I will say this: With Old Town, Gemelli, The Wine Rack, Wine Market, St. Matthews Wine Co. and many more, if the Liquor Barn stores dropped out of the top rank it would be sad, but it would no longer be a disaster as it would have been a decade ago.

I have been to several other good wine shops in Louisville, and I know that the actual selection of wine in the area won't be impacted much.

That said, I'll desperately miss the tastings if they stop having them. $10-12 for a sit-down tasting of around 7 wines (usually with one bonus wine at the end), with Blue Dog bread, great cheese, cured meats, and often other goodies. On top of that, the 15% all the wine in the store afterward really made buying wine on a budget much easier. I've also gotten to know a lot of the wine people are Liquor Barn really well, and I hope all of this works out for them. To a person, they're great people who love teaching about wine, and I'd miss drinking wine with them a few times a month.

I've tried some other tastings around town. The one that comes to mind was at the place on Brownsboro road that has the big wine sales/tastings. (I think it may be called Party Mart, but I'm not sure. It was posted on here a while back.) Unfortunately, I just haven't been wowed by their tasting selections.

I was told by someone from "Liquor World" that Liquor barn (outlet, whatever) is leaving the Springhurst location, and is moving to the renovated space that used to be the old Lincoln Mercury dealer on Shelbyville Road. This location is diagonally across the street from Beverage warehouse, and there is a legal dispute of some sort. (I guess the distance between them). It would be my guess that Liquor barn would buy out the lease of said Beverage warehouse. Phew. what a mess.

I thought a lot of remodeling going on at that location then wondered what was going in there. I'm kind of surprised they are closing the Springhurst location, it's definitely an area that's growing and actually there's a lot less competition in that area than a Shelbyville Road! I'd think they would be adding a location rather than closing one. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Springhurst rent became astronomical. Maybe because of the sale?

I was told by someone from "Liquor World" that Liquor barn (outlet, whatever) is leaving the Springhurst location, and is moving to the renovated space that used to be the old Lincoln Mercury dealer on Shelbyville Road. This location is diagonally across the street from Beverage warehouse, and there is a legal dispute of some sort. (I guess the distance between them). It would be my guess that Liquor barn would buy out the lease of said Beverage warehouse. Phew. what a mess.

Springhurst ? Closing ? SonuvaBIT** !!!! Pardon me while I go gouge my eyes out with my car keys. This is NOT a good thing in the "P" household.

I was told by someone from "Liquor World" that Liquor barn (outlet, whatever) is leaving the Springhurst location, and is moving to the renovated space that used to be the old Lincoln Mercury dealer on Shelbyville Road. This location is diagonally across the street from Beverage warehouse, and there is a legal dispute of some sort. (I guess the distance between them). It would be my guess that Liquor barn would buy out the lease of said Beverage warehouse. Phew. what a mess.

OK...so exactly where is this former dealership ? Are we talking Middletown or St Matthews ? Christ on a crutch, this just ruined my night.