This Little Ithaca Shop!We just wanted to share some good news, The Cellar d'Or has been chosen as a Top 50 Retailer of 2020 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. It feels awesome for us to be noticed in this very large industry!
When Olivia and I opened in 2013, it was literally with a dollar and a dream. We had just moved back to the area. We had two very young kids, with a third on the way. We saved a few bucks to buy a very small amount inventory, used a lot of our own sweat rehabbing an out of date, old storefront ourselves, but we had a lot of determination and passion for wine and starting the best possible business we could. Most of you know this story, but we took a chance by opening in the heart of downtown Ithaca on the Ithaca Commons, a pedestrian shopping district that was about to undergo a very long, intrusive construction project that would basically hinder all commerce, and not make it easy for people to access stores. It was literally torn up all the way down to the underground plumbing and electrical and rebuilt over 2 years. There were days that turned into weeks that turned into months where our front door was almost inaccessible.
But, Ithaca is an amazing place, with an amazing community of people, and we had customers make it a point to shop here and support our new businesses so we would come out alive on the other side. To say we have made life long relationships here would be an understatement! We are literally here because our community supported us not only locally, but from afar as well.
The Commons has since turned into a beautifully redone downtown, with great stores, restaurants, and what seems to be an ever-expanding housing explosion of not only new hotels but permanent housing as well. It is truly the heart of Ithaca and a destination. We are so happy to have chosen our home here and we can not thank all of you enough for your support!
The focus point of our recognition from Wine Enthusiast was our wine and cider clubs. We got into hard cider very early and "took it under our wing" per se--educating and stocking a very large selection from all over the world. We were the first to offer a Hard Cider Club, and it grew from there into adding a few different other clubs--a straight wine club, a club focused on NY Wines with wine writer Lenn Thompson, and now we are also offering a natural wines only club.
If you are interested in becoming a member, check them out here!
Cheers everyone, thank you for being a part of our shop! |
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