Bella Vino wine shop, 22 Stimson Ave., will be reopening as part of a new apartment complex a few months shy of a year after the establishment closed in December.
The shop used to be located in a more rustic and historic-feeling building, which was torn down. The new place is set to open hopefully between the week of Halloween and the first week of November, said manager Skye Milliken.
Milliken said that she is hopeful that the new store will continue to provide the same service that customers have come to expect from the store.
“It’s nice to be able to know who you’re talking to when you come into the store,” she said. “There’s a more personal aspect to it than when you’re just shopping at a grocery store.”
Lilian Chandler Glover, the original owner of Bella Vino, will be returning as assistant manager. Chandler Glover sold the business to current owner Ric Wasserman in February 2012.
Chandler Glover had been planning to sell the business for a long time because she wanted to spend more time with her family, Milliken said. The two have known each other since childhood.
The decision to sell the business led to some controversy in Athens after its new owner released plans to tear down the historic Bella Vino building and turn it into an apartment complex, Milliken said. When Wasserman opted to build apartments, he later decided to also include space for a newly remodeled Bella Vino shop on the ground floor.
Wasserman said the old building was in very poor shape and did not have the space to facilitate his plans for the property.
Ron Luce, the director of the Athens Historical Society & Museum who was very active in trying to preserve the original building, said he was happy for the people who operate the wine shop but saddened that the old building was torn down.
“Some people think of this as progress,” Luce said. “I think it was a horrible mistake to tear that building down.”
Still, Wasserman said he doesn’t expect much will be changed for Bella Vino.
“It’s just going to go back to being one of the best places to buy craft wine and beers in Ohio,” he said.
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