News Briefs for August 2, 2012

•St. Louis-area retailer Randall’s Wine & Spirits is expanding with a new location in Manchester, Missouri, with a soft opening scheduled for August 16 and the grand opening to follow August 26. Located at 14201 Manchester Road, Randall’s newest location is 12,000 square feet and will offer over 500 vodkas, 200 Bourbons, 1,300 wines and 800 craft beers in addition to other spirits, liqueurs and cocktail ingredients. Randall’s, which has three existing locations in the St. Louis area, says its downtown store is the largest-volume liquor store in Missouri. Randall’s owner George Randall is a Market Watch Leader and winner of the 2010 Leaders Alumni Award for Best Website.

•Total Wine & More has signed a lease for a new 22,631-square-foot store at Northpointe Plaza in Spokane, Washington. The new unit will be located in a shopping center off Newport Highway that also features national retailers and restaurants including Best Buy, Sports Authority, Applebee’s and Red Robin. Total Wine opened its first store in Washington in Bellevue in late June—just after the state’s privatization of retail spirits sales June 1—and has said it plans to open 10 stores in the state this year, covering the Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Vancouver areas. Competitor BevMo opened its first two Washington stores in Tacoma and Silverdale in July.

•Napa Valley’s Luna Vineyards has promoted its CFO David Lawrence to the role of president and CEO, replacing MaryAnn Tsai, who last week announced she would resign to focus on her own Moone-Tsai brand. Lawrence, who has served as Luna’s CFO since 2003, will continue to head the group’s finance division and is also being added to the company’s board of directors. Concurrently, Andre Crisp has joined the company as president of the Luna Vineyards Sales Co., a division of Luna Vineyards, Inc. Crisp has more than a decade of experience with online and software sales firms and has also served as a former Napa winery exec. Marketed by Sonoma-based Vintage Point, Luna Vineyards’ portfolio includes its eponymous flagship range, as well as the Arnold Palmer and Lunatic brands.

•Wolfgang Puck has debuted a more formal version of his fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Express at Los Angeles International Airport, which is in the process of revamping its dining options. Wolfgang Puck Express is known as a grab-and-go chain, but this most recent unit is a dine-in, full-service restaurant with a full bar and a larger food menu than what is found at other Express units. The eatery soft-opened last month, with an official opening date slated for September 13.

Tagged : restaurants, spirits, Total Wine & More, wine

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