Wine on Main popped the cork and cut the ribbon today, officially opening its unique self-serve wine bar on Main Street in Newmarket.
The new business is the brainchild of Jordan Mills and Alex Lee. The journey to opening has taken many months and the couple said they are relieved to be welcoming people in.
“It’s been a long, long road. We first stepped in the space back in March. It’s been a ride for sure. We’re very excited,” Mills said.
Lee agreed and said that they are really trying to savour this moment after all the hard work they have put in.
The new wine bar has a wall of temperature-controlled machines with 24 bottles of wine in there. Customers can fill up a card with a pre-paid amount and insert it into one of the machines and select your bottle and pour size. The wine is then dispensed right into your glass.
Mills said the card system is a lot like Dave & Busters arcade but with wine.
To his knowledge, this is the first self-serve wine bar in Ontario, but the concept is big in Europe. Mills and Lee have been travelling to many wine regions around the world for the past 10 years and saw it for themselves firsthand.
"You get to be your own sommelier,” he said.
Around seven or eight years ago, they began dreaming about opening a self-serve wine bar themselves and with a ribbon cutting ceremony with the mayor, members of council, and business neighbours, that dream has become a reality.
The inside of the bar, which is located at 186 Main St., also has seating areas, and warm dark tones to create a welcoming environment for guests.
The goal is to provide an alternative to the LCBO and also enhance the Main Street scene, according to the owners.
"For people who want to come and enjoy what Main Street has to offer, we just wanted to have a wine experience for them,” Mills said.
Wine on Main is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. The bar is closed on Tuesdays.
This is one of many new businesses that has moved around or opened recently on Main Street. Just next door the chocolate shop Cocoa40 celebrated its grand opening recently while further down the street Good Vibes on Main marked its 10th anniversary and the official opening of its new larger location.
