Hi Michele, thank you so much for having us today in your beautiful wine shop Smith & Vine.  

Michele: Thank you 

So, you are coming up on your 20th anniversary of opening Smith & Vine, can you tell us how opening the shop evolved?

Michele: Yes, ok so we opened in 2004 on May 5th. We called it Cinco de Vino! I really wanted to open it on that day so that we could call it Cinco de Vino! But before we opened, we lived in the neighborhood. I have lived in this neighborhood since 1999. My husband, who I opened the shop with, Patrick Watson, has lived here since 1997. So, we have like 24 or 25 years in this neighborhood. We were working in really nice restaurants for quite a long time. We are theater people so inevitably you wait tables and work in restaurants. We met there and we had been living in the neighborhood and while there were great other options-we loved Scotto‘s, Jim Scotto is an amazing human and it’s a beautiful wine shop. But we were working in restaurants and at that time , 20 years ago,  a lot of the wines you saw in nicer restaurants were never in a retail setting and we were like why was that, they go great with food we fell in love with a lot of these  producers and we felt like there was a need in the neighborhood because we were living here and we couldn’t find those wines.  

What was it like when you started? 

Michele: You know we had a great selection, we started with our $15 and under wines , it was actually $10 and under wines then, things have changed.  We had just a small section of spirits but we brought all the producers that we have been working with for years and had strong connections with, and we were like we hope everybody loved them as much as we did and it ended up being really well received.  We worked there all the time; we never took a day off. It was exciting and fun and it really sort of put us firm into this neighborhood.

How has the neighborhood changed? 

Michele: When we first got on Smith Street there wasn’t that much on Smith Street. It had just started and then all of a sudden tons of restaurants came in. You used to spend a lot of time on Court Street and then a lot of traffic started happening on Smith Street. And now they are both beautiful corridors of all sorts of shopping and dining. I just think it’s expanded and become a very desirable place to live and raise children.

How did you get through the pandemic? 

Michele: We were extremely lucky. In the pandemic we were one of the business that were essential so we didn’t have to close. Also, our staff is amazing. We have an amazing GM and wine buyer Sarah Favinger and then also our spirits buyer Steve Hamlin who has been working with us for years was with us during the pandemic. We kept everybody safe. No one obviously came into the store. I also think it was wonderful for the staff, despite it being a horrible time, but for the staff to be able to be around other people and to feel safe, I think that was pretty wonderful. They were amazing. 

What is it like to live and work in this neighborhood?

Michele: It’s very easy for me to be in this neighborhood, to live and to work.  This neighborhood still has a very European small feel to it.  We have a butcher, a fish store, I still shop that way. I go to Paisanos or Staubitz or I go to Fish Tales.  That’s how I like to shop and I feel like that is what is unique in this neighborhood. I think it helps businesses. People really want to help support their local businesses. It feels like people dig into the neighborhood, it’s not transient.  They want to see it thrive so they want to go out and support local businesses and I feel like that has been what has helped us.