Nov. 10—ROCHESTER — Total Wine and More is now open and mixing it up in south Rochester.
Total Wine, the largest alcohol retailer in the U.S., cracked open the doors of its new Rochester warehouse store on Friday as a "soft opening." An official grand opening is slated for Thursday.
It has been almost exactly a year in the making, since the first under-the-radar building permits started flowing through Rochester's city hall
Rochester shoppers were wandering around the 30,000-square-foot space at 40 25th St. SE in the Broadway Commons center over the weekend with the same overwhelmed looks of awe on their faces as people have when first entering a cavernous Costco or Sams Club warehouse.
Teams of attentive staffers roamed the aisles answering questions and guiding customers to the multiple sampling stations to try wines and liqueurs.
This is Maryland-based Total Wine's first Minnesota store outside of the Twin Cities metro area, where it has five stores. The company has 260 stores in 28 states.
Total Wine has the reputation of offering lower prices, while shelving much more selection than other chains. A typical Total Wine store carries more than 8,000 different wines, more than 2,500 beers and more than 3,000 different spirits.
While Total Wine has fewer stores than Costco or other chains that also sell liquor, it is the largest alcohol retailer by revenue. More than $6 billion in revenue poured in during 2023.
Construction on the store has been underway for months. In August, Total Wine purchased Woody's Liquor's off-sale license . Woody's at 316 Elton Hills Drive NW in the Valhalla Center shopping plaza closed on Sept. 21.
Total Wine's cannonball into the Rochester pool is making a big splash and is making some waves for long-time local liquor shops.
Two local store brands that started in Rochester, Apollo Liquor and Andy's Liquor, have long been popular here. The Chafoulias family sold Andy's to St. Cloud-based Coborn's, Inc. in 2020. The Kolas family sold their Rochester Apollo stores to Brian King in 2018.
Rochester also houses one-store independents like Joe's Liquor, Silver Lake Liquor, Jack's Bottle Shop and Tessa's Office Wine Shop & Spirits.
Chains with liquor shops, like Costco, Sam's Club, Cub, Hy-vee and Trader Joe's, will also feel the choppy wake by having another player where shoppers use carts to buy alcohol.
Total Wine's arrival in the former Bed, Bath & Beyond storefront, which closed in early 2023, is good news for the Broadway Commons commercial center. That center also houses Famous Footwear, DSW, Michaels, Boot Barn, Petco and Five Below. The former Bed, Bath & Beyond space is the largest in that stretch of retailers with Michaels as the next largest at 24,300-square-feet.
Walmart, Kohls, Menards and Goodwill all stand nearby.