Exit 9 Wine settling into new location
HALFMOON (Feb. 2) — Normally the first week of the year the folks at Exit 9 Wine and Liquor take it a little easy. It’s their time to catch their breath after a busy holiday season ending with people buying for their New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Not this year.
This year Exit 9 spent that week moving from Clifton Park to Halfmoon — a move of 800 feet. A short move but a major one when you’re transporting over 30,000 square feet worth of wine and liquor. The store did it all in one day, being closed only Wednesday, Jan. 6 because of the move.
Exit 9 Wine and Liquor owner Mark O’Callaghan, center, with managers Andy Scherer, left, and Jimmy D'Auria.
On that Thursday the store opened in its new location in the former Linens ‘n Things building.
“It took us about a week to settle in,” O’Callaghan said.
The new location — which, at 37,500 square feet, makes Exit 9 the state’s largest liquor store by area — allows Exit 9 to offer a bigger variety of items to its already extensive inventory.
“We’re going to dramatically increase our scotch collection,” O’Callaghan said. “We’re more than doubling our shelf space for New York wines, and we plan to bring in as many as we can.”
Exit 9 is making a special effort to seek out small New York wineries — the kind where the winemaker is also the delivery driver.
“It’s a lot more rewarding when you buy from those types of places,” O’Callaghan said. “It’s true business to business.”
Another advantage of the new location is the space to build a special room for high-end wines. The refrigeration units are all set to go. The room is just waiting on a custom-made redwood rack to arrive from California — and the wines. Picking out the right wines is going to take a while.
“That will be a slow process,” O’Callaghan said. “But it’s going to be an extremely fun process.”
To celebrate its new location, Exit 9 will be holding a grand opening event this Saturday — including an autograph session with New York Giants tight end Kevin Boss from noon to 2 p.m.
If the event attracts a crowd, customers will get to take advantage of another asset of the new location: parking.
“Parking was becoming an issue” at the old location, O’Callaghan said. “Here it’s a lot more convenient to get in and out for our customers.”
For more information:
- Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse, 9 Halfmoon Crossing Blvd., Halfmoon, 688.0153
