Editor's Notice: In honor of National Small Small business Full week, libn.com is profiling one modest venture a day on Prolonged Island. Number one up, the smallest firm of them all.
Opening a wine retail outlet in a former storage closet on Most important Street in Sayville first helped Suzanne McDonald continue to keep overhead expenses down.
Now, the approximately 100-square-foot dimension of Down the Rabbit Hole - which shed all traces of its storage closet previous when McDonald decorated it with paintings, clear white shelves and a crystal chandelier - is one particular of the boutique's primary attracts. The shop, with an yearly income of about $500,000, has been open 3 1/ two many years and McDonald says you'll find it busiest on weekends and through the summer, when she catches the Fire Island crowd.
Strolling into Down the Rabbit Hole is like squeezing by means of a slim corridor surrounded on all sides by organic and natural, artisanal and some community Very long Island wines. The wines are organized by flavor, somewhat than area, the wine store normal.
McDonald, the only entire-time employee who started out the corporation when she was 23, opted to organize that way for the reason that the alternative regions and vast varieties of wine have a tendency to intimidate clients. She breaks out the about 100 wines she carries into flavors like fruit- forward or earthy-toned and encourages buyers to believe that about what they like, somewhat than names such as Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon.
"They allow their senses guideline them," she stated.
McDonald, a former competitive figure skater, identified she had an exceptionally sharp palate when she was injured for the duration of training. Whereas living in New Jersey, she obtained a task at a wine boutique, realized the ins and outs of the business and crafted it her mission to a single day open a wine retail outlet.
Luckily, her leading friend's dad and mom unique the Sayville Chocolatier and ended up inclined to lease her the area they were by using to keep brooms and an previous sign.
"The overhead is lower on the grounds that there isn't a ton of square footage to get lease on," McDonald claimed.
McDonald has also branched out her online business into hosting wine events, a nice way to spread the term about Down the Rabbit Hole, mainly because she stopped accomplishing traditional marketing soon after her foremost yr and now relies on word of mouth to provide in organisation. For a party, a group buys a circumstance of wine, and McDonald will come and lecture on the grapes that go into a particular bottle.
"The quirk is the selling position," McDonald mentioned of Down the Rabbit Hole. "It's so very small, and you'll find it these a novelty, and visitors have fun with it."
Writer: Jessica DiNapoli
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