New Pop-Up Boutique For Bishop's Cellar

Photos Courtesy Jenny Gammon

We were very kindly invited to a preview of a new Pop-Up Boutique from our friends at Bishop's Cellar.  The main retail space is undergoing some renovations which are scheduled to last about a week but the staff have pulled together some really neat temporary digs just across the courtyard stocked with mostly value wines.  They were working on things right up to the media launch and the end result looks great (though they are making a few tweaks here and for the official opening on Sunday).

The business is celebrating 10 years in business this month and have a lot on their plate.  We have had some real perks as wine bloggers and being invited to events like this are one of them.  I was handed a glass of Blomidon Estate's Cremant as soon as I arrived.

We were off to a great start.

I was able to spend some time with Matt Rogers (@MattRogers222 on Twitter) the General Manager.  He showed me the plans for the new look of the shop.  It is going to be a fantastic set of changes to the space, with upgrades to rack systems and new wine fridges, it is going to be a re-organization of how they sell wine.  This includes a new Enomatic wine dispenser for customers to sample some of the higher end wines.  That very well may push us to try and buy beyond our budget....well played.  He also showed some very cool infographic posters that will be put on the walls with some interesting wine facts, wine quotes, and even some about our local Nova Scotia wine industry.  Very cool stuff.

Matt was very generous with his time and he really gave me a great insight into what running a wine retail business is like.  What we see from the outside are the rows of bottles, the sales, the selection, the staff.  We also see things like staff trips to the Okanagan or Europe and staff tastings.  What we don't see are the hours of moving inventory, wine agent meetings, coordinating marketing, POS systems, restaurant licensee support, and all the other hard work that makes the excellent customer service we get an everyday experience.  Such an interesting business.

We have made no secret on this blog of the fact that we really enjoy our trips to Bishop's Cellar.  We have attended store tastings and made it a regular stop for our wine purchasing.  They hire extremely qualified and friendly staff who always help point us in a direction when we have questions or are looking for something different.  They have a very talented buying team that brings us wines of great taste and great value.  We have never had a bad experience there and we wish we lived closer to make the trips more frequent.  They set the bar high for retail wine sales and we are lucky to have them in our marketplace.

The Retail Store closes at midnight on Saturday and the Pop-Up Boutique opens on Sunday.  It might be a somewhat short-lived space in the grand scheme of things but it is a great idea nonetheless.  If you are in the Halifax area, you should absolutely check it out.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon