Allegro 'well-received' at new location

This note came just a bit earlier this afternoon courtesy of Carl Helrich of Allegro Vineyards,who recently opened a satellite shop within the Giant Food Store in Enola, Pa. His becomes the first state winery to open in a grocery store, but there are rumblings that a couple more will follow in the next month or two. Asked how the store was doing exactly 30 days since it opened, Helrich replied:

The new store up in Enola has been extremely well-received by customers. The vast majority of them are not our current customers, yet our wines seem to have found a good audience with them. I think they appreciate the range of styles we do. We're selling a larger percentage of premium drier wines to the customers in the Giant than we would in say a mall location or a shopping center. I attribute it some to the surrounding demographic, but also to the fact that these folks would have just been shopping for dinner staples and are in a "dinner" frame of mind.

The first week or so, we would have people walk in and watch their jaws drop. They couldn't quite figure it out, how we were able to sell wine in a grocery store. (Technically, it's on the Allegro winery license, and Giant is simply leasing the space to us.) Having a winery out in the Brogue is wonderful for raising grapes and kids. But the wine sales have always lacked something (volume.) We've always known that people liked our product when they encountered it, be it at a tasting or a festival. The new store in Giant allows more people to come in contact with Allegro than we ever had down in the Brogue.