Meet Robin and Andrew, the husband and wife team turned wine enthusiasts behind Cellar Door Wine Shop in the heart of downtown Concord. With Andrew’s career in Software Engineering Management and Robin’s background as a Speech-Language Pathologist, they never expected to turn their love for wine, specifically small, family-owned vineyards, into a retail business.
“This was not part of our plan,” said Robin. “We were sitting 2 years ago at a winery with friends when, almost as a joke, the idea of opening a wine shop together came up.”
The seed was planted, and neither of them could stop thinking about it. With an infectious “why not?” attitude, in the spring of 2023, they started taking real steps to pursue the dream. Already deeply embedded in historic downtown, they saw the wine shop they envisioned as a much-needed addition to the business community there.
With a smile, Andy said, “We kept waiting for someone to tell us we were crazy, but no one told us no. So, we just kept going!”
Among their list of encouragers was Meg, director of the Rowan-Cabarrus Small Business Center.
Robin discovered the services of the Small Business Center while researching the steps they needed to take to open their shop. She scheduled a meeting with Meg and was provided with a resource called LivePlan that walked them through each component of creating their business plan.
By the fall of 2023, they were well on their way to launching Cellar Door Wine Shop. Meg suggested Robin and Andrew apply for the Retail Lab. The six-week boot camp for early-stage retail business owners is offered at the Cabarrus Center through a partnership between the Flywheel Foundation and the Rowan-Cabarrus Small Business Center, made possible by grant funding from Wells Fargo.
Just before the Retail Lab boot camp began, Robin and Andrew found their perfect location at 2 Union Street South – right on the corner of Union Street and Cabarrus Avenue in downtown Concord. The program came at the perfect time as the couple worked to get their business ready for launch.
Their favorite topics were around the business basics and customer discovery, but each week taught them new things and confirmed decisions they had already made.
Andrew explained that while the class titles appeared a little intimidating, each week, they were put at ease and were taught each topic in the exact way they teach their customers about wine at their shop – with approachability!
They soft-launched Cellar Door at the end of January 2024 but celebrated their official launch with the Cabarrus Chamber and a ribbon cutting in April.
Cellar Door is not just a typical wine shop. You won’t find any bottles from your local grocery store, and perhaps most surprisingly, you’ll find the average price of a bottle around $20.
Robin and Andrew have a love for educating people about wine from all over the world – specifically small, family-owned vineyards, many of which use sustainable farming practices.
They offer samples of their two “wines of the week” whenever their doors are open, but they especially love Wednesday evenings. This is when they offer free, drop-in style wine tastings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. that feature 4 wines, often new or from a specific region. This is where the heart of the business beats loudly.
“Wine can be intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be,” said Andrew. “Our mission is for wine to be approachable and unassuming.”
This mission has helped Cellar Door build and deepen community connections with each tasting or special event that it offers. This business is not simply a transaction to Robin and Andrew. They want to share all the knowledge and passion that has been imparted to them over the years with those who walk through their doors.
To that end, the Retail Lab boot camp’s greatest asset to their business was the community built with other business owners.
“My favorite part was meeting entrepreneurs with different businesses and backgrounds,” Robin shared. “We have collaborated with two other Retail Lab grads in our store.”
“Everybody that we have collaborated with understands that each successful business breeds the success of their neighbor,” said Andrew.
Cellar Door Wine Shop’s story is a testament to how following a passion can lead to new opportunities and enrich a community.
This fall, they will be hosting more events and exciting collaborations, as well as continuing their free Wednesday night wine tastings.
To learn more about Cellar Door Wine Shop and all that is coming up, visit their website at www.cellardoorconcord.com or connect on Facebook and Instagram at Cellar Door Concord.
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