The one-year-old Crystal City Wine Shop is expanding to a second location.
Crystal City Wine Shop — a for-profit business owned by the nonprofit Washington Wine Academy — will open a 1,500 square foot store at 220 20th Street S., in the former Revolution Cycles CityHub space. The store will carry 300 different wines and 150 types of beer, according to Washington Wine Academy president Jim Barker.
In addition to selling wine and beer, the store will “focus on educating people through tastings and events,” Barker said. Like the current store at 401 12th Street S., the new location will hold wine and beer tastings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Barker says he hopes to open the new store at some point this summer, possibly in August.
Even though the two stores will only be a few blocks away from one another, Barker says he believes having a new store “in the heart of Crystal City” will help attract new customers who don’t necessarily want to walk to the existing store, on the north end of Crystal City.
Barker said the Whole Foods Market set to open a block away from the wine shop’s 12th Street location in 3-4 years is “obviously a concern,” but thinks that there’s room for both businesses. He pointed out that the apartment building in which the Whole Foods will be built will add residents to the area, and that the new Boeing headquarters will also add to Crystal City Wine Shop’s base of potential customers.
Photo via Google Maps