Port expansion nears reality
Charges after weapons bust
Scam victim sues CIBC
Flight attendants may strike
Law ruled unconstitutional
Honda still committed: Joly
Overdose deaths fall 27%
Rollback on protections
Business ties deepen
Secession talk 'unhelpful'
Delivery driver steals $2.5M
Roaming revenue falls
Vees season ends in game 6
Leafs' ugly Game 4 loss
Vees heading to game 6
Paltrow found scenes 'weird'
Cassie Ventura was suicidal
Netflix orders Levy series
Taking over the former HSBC bank in Penticton's downtown is a unique liquor store with a private tasting area.
The Vault Liquor Merchants is set to open on May 8 at 201 Main Street, offering a diverse selection of local and international wines, whiskey, craft beer, spirits and non-alcoholic options.
Store partners and husband and wife duo Andrew Hall and Megan McKay Hall are joined by Leah Garras in opening up the shop, who have all been running the Martin Street Liquor Merchants Store together.
Megan said that as a nod to the building theme, they kept the original vault in the store and turned it into a private tasting room.
"We blew out the back of it, sort of opened it up in a little bit of a bigger space," she added. "We'll be able to do some small-scale events, with a maximum of 15 to 20 people comfortably. But then it's just a beautiful showpiece part of the space."
The goal with the space was to build a highly knowledgeable team, not only just beer and wine, but also in cocktails and entertaining.
"We hope to offer ideas like pairing options," Megan said. "One of the biggest things for me is that we want to be the place that our wineries, our local producers, recommend when they are not there. We want somebody to be confident that we will be able to talk about their products in the same way, with the same enthusiasm and knowledge, as they do when you visit a tasting room, a distillery, a brewery, or cidery."
The Halls have worked in the hospitality industry for years, in liquor retail, sales management, wineries, and restaurant management and are excited for this next step.
"We just really want to make sure that we were cross-promoting with other local businesses, and just making sure that locals know that we're here for them, and that we care about their choices, and we care about what they want to see on the shelf," Megan said.
"We'll have quite a lot of non alcoholic options there. I like to have a non alcoholic cocktail or wine from time to time, and I have a real hard time finding the good ones. So we would bring in a selection of that as well."
The store will be hosting tastings every Saturday with a different producer, hoping to catch people as they're enjoying the downtown markets and heading to the beach.
"We'll have single beer, cider, coolers, etc, that people will be able to take to the beaches or parks, wherever you're allowed to do that."
Along with hosting events, small parties and gatherings, the liquor store is also looking at building a whiskey or cocktail club.
"The sky's the limit, and we're gonna jump into all of it," Megan said.
The Martin Street store will be closing down the first weekend of May, as the team moves over to Main Street.
More details on hours of operation will be released soon, along with giveaways, so keep an eye on their Instagram and Facebook page.
