There are signs of a change on the block of Bloomfield Ave. between Maple Place and Midland Ave. in Montclair. Merit Wines, a wine-and-liquor store with an 83-year-history, is moving from its current cramped space at 571 Bloomfield Ave. into the old Zaentz hardware store on the same block, where it will have twice the amount of floor space and a new “retro-industrial look” featuring an exposed brick wall and huge blow-up photos of the store over the years.
“We are in the middle of the restaurant district,” says owner Kim Cheung. “We’ll have better exposure, better visibility.” And while the store doesn’t aspire to the ultra chic look of Church Street’s Amanti Vino, Cheung says that isn’t the intention. He says he has customers that shop at both stores and sometimes “feel underdressed” walking into Amanti Vino. He says wine customers are often surprised how many wines his store has.
When it opens — and the opening planned for this month has been delayed because of the township’s inspection backlog — Cheung says, the refashioned store with carry a “tremendous variety of wines,” specializing in wines between $10 to $20 that “taste like a bottle that’s twice the price.” Cheung’s wife Un Lee went to sommelier school in 2009, and she’s increasing the store’s inventory of wines from Chile, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and France. “She has a fantastic palate,” he says. The store also plans to feature more high-end beers, and allow customers to create their own six-packs.
Cheung hopes that the new space will better convey the store’s selections and mission: “A lot of people couldn’t imagine the selection in our store by the outside look of it.” The store will deliver single bottles to customers dining at nearby restaurants, and continue to carry a full range of hard liquor as well.
I’m sorry to hear that Zaentz is closed. Nice, helpful people in there.
The phrase is often continued as, “In vino veritas, in aqua ichthys”, i.e., “In wine there is truth, in water there is fish.”
Similar phrases exist across cultures and languages. In Chinese, there is the saying, “酒後吐真言” (“After wine blurts truthful speech”).
The Babylonian Talmud (תלמוד בבלי) contains the passage: “נכנס יין יצא סוד”, i.e., “In came wine, out went a secret”
This all goes to show that in this economy nobody’s interested in home improvement, but we all need a drink.
Of all the hardware stores in town, I preferred giving my business to Roz – she always met you with a frendly greeting and if she didn’t have what you wanted, she’d order it. I was sad to see her go. Her shop was among the last of dying breed around here – the mom and pop business – and with the closing of her doors, we lost yet another main street institution that distinguished us from the chain store anonymity of modern suburbia.
But hey, at least her store didn’t become another hairdresser or nail salon.
For that alone, I’ll buy a bottle of wine there and raise a toast to Roz.
With the new space I hope the folks at Merit get better fridges. I find most of their beers are cool, but never cold.
Underdressed at Amanti Vino? This is Montclair. I see people wearing crocs and flip flops in public and walking into Amanti Vino.
So this makes me afraid of going into Merit Wines. What’s underdressed, pasties and a thong?