Star Provisions runs dry
January 9th, 2008 by Besha Rodell in Drink, NewsI stopped by Star Provisions today for a sandwich, cup of coffee and a bottle of wine, which are the three things I usually go to Star Provisions for. In fact, when driving up Marietta and trying to decide whether to continue up Howell Mill to Star Provisions or stop at Octane, the toss up was between Octane’s cappuccino and Star Provisions’ wine selection. Both places have good sandwiches (although, to be fair, Star Provisions has REALLY good sandwiches as opposed to Octane’s decent ones). Anyway, wine won out over cappuccino today. But alas, I was thwarted. Star Provisions has stopped selling wine! The whole wine room was just sad, empty shelves.
The woman I spoke to who works there said it is a permanent business decision, based on the fact that they “just can’t compete” with the large wine retailers. Even if their wine sales don’t make up a huge portion of sales, I do wonder how many people, like me, stop in for wine and do other shopping and lunching there as well.
Luckily for me, Toscano and Sons, across the street from Octane, has a good Italian wine selection. So now I guess I’ll be able to have my wine and cappuccino, too.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
This surprises me. I used to work at Star and wine was a huge seller during my time there. I wonder what changed?
January 10th, 2008 at 3:05 am
I was in there about two months ago – maybe less, and the wine room was barren. There were not even ten different wines in the bins and less than five bottles per wine. I thought at the time that they must be doing away with it. But since I don’t get over there very often (live in North Gwinnett), I soon forgot about it.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Are you sure Octane is still open? I drove by there earlier this week and it looked closed.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I like Toscano & Son’s small selection of wine, but I love their sandwiches and the pastas and sauces you can buy in the store.
Good luck if you ever try to walk across the road from there to Octane safely – I’ve tried it before and it can be harrowing. With all the development in that intersection of Marietta and Howell Mill, I hope some consessions are made for pedestrian traffic.
I wonder if Star Provisions still has that small selection of beers in the cooler where the deli counter is. Have they done away with all alcohol sale?
January 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Has anyone heard about the Derek Lawford Pubs and their possible legal troubles? I heard that Fox & Hound had shut down indefinetely, along with all the others (Prince of Wales, Spotted Dog, etc.). Just curious.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Yes, Octane is still open. I know they had funny hours for some of the holidays, but I’ve been there at least three times in the past week.
February 13th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
[...] Star Provisions stopped selling wine, using the space instead for upscale handbags and linens. I was pissed. Today I stopped by and was delighted to see that they are carrying wine again, in the space across [...]