After sitting vacant for a year, the Office Max space right off I-5 will become an entirely different kind of superstore: the largest wine store in the Northwest.
The Puget Sound Business Journal reported last week that David LeClaire — sommelier, event producer and all-around wine guy (his URL is vinolover.com) — will open the 23,000-square-foot Wine World in the fall.
According to the Journal, Wine World will be much more than a wine store. It will include “a pair of 30-foot counters for wine tastings, an espresso bar and a 6,000-square-foot meeting room for hosting private and corporate events that includes a demonstration kitchen.”
LeClaire plans to carry 4000 items, including Northwest and international wines, wine accessories and glasses, chocolates, charcuterie and cheeses, says the Journal. If you’re trying to picture 4000 bottles of wine, the large wine store Esquin in SoDo carries that number of bottles on its sales floor.
Really? That is great news! It totally won’t go out of business!
This will only exacerbate already wretched parking and traffic issues in the neighborhood. Cars speeding between 45th and 50th, street parking taken up so that residents must often park blocks from thier homes, children and pets endangered by people hurrying in and out. This is not really a good thing for the people who live on 5th, 4th, Latona, and Thackeray and the crossing streets or 46th and 47th. I know David and appreciate his work and contribution to the wine world of Puget Sound, however I know our traffic issues are already grave; this will only make them worse.