It’s very much business as usual at Vintages Tasting Room, 215 E. Main St. The business is listed for sale on Peoria Craigslist, but owner Julie Haugland said new events are still being planned, the inventory is the same as always, and she is looking for musicians to play unplugged at Vintages on the weekend.
“Every business is for sale,” Haugland said, shrugging off the significance of the listing. “I’m not going out of business. My customer base is aware of it (the sale listing) and everyone knows about it.”
The listing on Craigslist is a sale price of $175,000. Haugland said if the right person comes along, she would entertain the idea of selling. The 1,650-square-foot building also has a basement for storage, a small outdoor patio in rear and “second floor with loft potential.”
The building is included in the selling price, as are the computer, printer, floor displays, decor, coolers, customer database and marketing tools.
Haugland said she is still coming up with ideas for what is known as a wine “bottleshop.”
“Certainly my ideas have not stopped,” she said. “Anyone interested in the business, I would sit down with them and tell them my ideas. … I’ve got all sorts of ideas for what they could do with enough time and energy.”
Energy is the key to why Haugland is open to selling the business to the right buyer.
“The reason I’m looking at it is because I do not have the energy, because of my health, to maintain these hours,” she said.
Haugland said she’d also like more free time with her husband.
Still, she said she would be willing to continue on as a consultant, if an interested buyer comes along.
Other ideas include a wine bar.
“I’d like actually to see it open later at night,” she said. “If it was open 3 to 10 p.m., it could be a great wine bar.”
Haugland extended her hours to 6:30 p.m. and said people are still in the shop at 7 to 7:30. That’s one reason why she believes the later hours would work.
“And they don’t want to leave,” she said of her evening customers.
Haugland said there are few options in the evening downtown, as most businesses close early.
“For an after-dinner drink and dessert, it would be a nice thing,” she said. “That plan is in process.”
Haugland is talking with someone about doing a dessert and wine bar.
Meanwhile, events are still being scheduled, such as the Cabaret Nights July 23 and 30 and a Gospel Night with sacred music.
“I’m filling up the schedule,” she said. “I’m looking for musicians who want to play unplugged here: jazz, blues, classical.”
She also has ideas for increasing the amount of floor space at the shop and adding energy efficient windows.
Not surprisingly, as Haugland also runs much of the Local Growers Network out of the store, she has an idea for a Facebook page that would benefit all of downtown.
She said the page would allow every business owner to be her own administrator and list live music options all on one downtown page.
“There’s so much music,” Haugland said. “People from the Quad Cities and Peoria could see what’s happening” at one spot and maybe drive over to Galesburg.
So, yes, Vintages is for sale, but Haugland is not slowing down. She’s proud of what she has built in five years, beginning on Seminary Street and continuing with the late summer move to Main Street in 2009.
“It’s something nobody else has done,” she said.
jpulliam@register-mail.com