Giant to open 2nd Allegro store tomorrow

Word came out earlier Friday that Allegro Vineyards will be opening a shop tomorrow at the Giant Food Store in Silver Spring Township in central Pennsylvania, which is Mechanicsburg for out-of-towners looking on a map. This is Allegro's second shop in Giant; the other one opened in mid-November in Enola. It's also the fourth wine shop overall to open essentially inside a Giant. Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars has opened the other two, one in South Hanover Township in Dauphin County, and the other in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Carl Helrich, the owner and winemaker of Allegro, said he's thrilled to open another shop and ride the momentum that has been gained by the success of his shop in Enola. The decision to go in to Mechanicsburg, he said, was one that involved both partners.

"We put our heads together on these things," he said, when asked how they've decided on the locations for the two shops. "I want to be up in the Harrisburg market, and this is a great place. Mechanicsburg has a lot of wine drinkers and a lot of our customers actually come from the Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill area. And we've got a developed market base from having the West Shore Farmers Market. So having something over in Enola, which is a real high-volume store for them, and of course Mechanicsburg here is another high-volume store. It's a perfect fit for us."

Helrich was there throughout Friday, making final preparations for tomorrow's opening. The shop will be open Monday through Thursday from noon to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

“Today’s announcement continues Giant’s commitment to promoting quality products found right here in Pennsylvania’s own back yard,” said Tracy Pawelski, director of public and community relations, Giant Food Stores.

The Allegro wine list will showcase more than 20 different wines with a wide range of wine styles from dry red and white vinifera wines to versatile semi-dry table wines, fruit wines and specialty spiced and dessert wines. Allegro wines range in price from $11 per bottle to $35 per bottle. All wine sales will occur in the Allegro location with Allegro staff.

Helrich said he has hired eight staffers now who will be cross-trained to work at the two Giants shops and the farmers market. Those working in Mechanicsburg will occupy a space that's a little smaller than the one in Enola, although Helrich said the bar area is bigger, "so we can handle more people tasting, if need be."

Helrich said he wasn't aware of any other wineries opening shops inside a store in the grocery chain, which has its corporate headquarters in Carlisle, Pa. "This is a pilot program for Giant. Joe and Vickie Greff over at Blue Mountain have two of these as well, and [Giant] wants to see if we're [and they're] happy with these before they commit to opening up any more stores to this kind of project. We'll see. But I do know this has been a successful three months for us, at least over at the Enola location."

Blue Mountain additions pleasing to the eye

Vickie Greff paused in the middle of the conversation. “Now where am I?” she asked out loud. “I was so busy talking to you I went right past my turn.”

Greff, co-owner with husband Joe of Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars in New Tripoli, Pa., finally found an alternate route and doubled back to her destination – their shop at Reading Terminal Market in Philly – the other day and took care of business.

But en route we volleyed a few topics back and forth, starting with the two shops that the winery has opened in Giant Food stores in South Hanover Township, in Hummelstown, and in the Philly suburb of Willow Grove. Both have been opened a couple of months and Greff said that she has been gratified by the feedback, the repeat business and the compliments.

“Our stores came out absolutely gorgeous,” she said. “People are just absolutely amazed at the kind of caliber of store we’ve put in. I used all Tuscan themea; I’m don’t know if you were ever in our Reading Terminal store, but it’s kind of our look. It’s kind of a terra cotta color with a lot of earth tones in it and very dark mahogany type cabinetry, and it’s all new, so the bar is absolutely beautiful. You walk in and you feel like you’re in a bar, not a wine shop. Yet the wine is all wrapped on the racks. It came out gorgeous, it really did.”

Enter any of Blue Mountain’s satellite’s shop and you’ll find many of the same color schemes; in fact, Greff said she’s planning at some point this year to do a face-lifting at the winery to capture the look of the other shops. “All of my stores have that look, that continuity,” she said.

At this point there are two regional wineries that have worked with Giant to open these shops. Carl Helrich, with Allegro Vineyards in the Brogue, Pa., was the first one to open a shop in a Giant, putting one in the Enola store late last fall. He said business has been brisk, and that it has been distinguished by how much dry red wine he was selling, at least compared to how much leaves his winery in southern York County. Greff said the Willow Grove shop has sold a lot of dry reds but, overall, no more so than at the winery. “As far as the winery, we sell a lot of dry reds,” she said. “We stress that. We’ve developed our business on that, on dry reds. Do we sell sweet wines? Absolutely. Do we sell tons of Victoria’s Passion? Absolutely. I do think we sell a ton of dry reds in Willow Grove, but we also sell a lot of dry reds at our Reading Terminal stores and also at our winery. Definitely, we sell a lot of dry reds at our winery. But is that our most popular? No. We still sell a lot of blush, a lot of Victoria’s Passion, a lot of Sangria. We just came out with our Sangria again. Things like that, we sell tons of. Those are our biggest sellers.”

Any of their wines is fair game for something that Giant sells. Greff said she recently made a braised beef dish at one of their shops and paired it with their Chambourcin, then provided customers with the ingredients that they could purchase in the grocery store. “The store loves it,” she said. “I’m planning on doing something with the bakery for Valentine’s Day. You want to show Giant that you are promoting their business as well as your own. It’s not all one way or one-sided. That’s what they’re seeing . . . I’m trying to do things and help us both have a partnership, and that’s how I approach it, to have a partnership.”

On some other fronts:

* A timetable for those renovations at her winery? “I don’t know,” she said. “I had hoped to get it done in time for March Madness, but I don’t think it’s going to happen now.”
* Valentine’s weekend celebration at the winery? “We always get a very good turnout for our music on Valentine’s Day weekend. And we doing brownies with raspberry topping and we have a dollar off on our Victoria’s Passion for the whole month of February, and that goes with the chocolate.” Music at the winery is every Sunday afternoon, from 2 to 5 p.m.
* Greff is president of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail, which is made up of nine wineries. Planning to add any new ones? “We haven’t yet. There are some people who have their feelers out asking us, but we haven’t decided to do it.”