Neighborhood Wine Shop celebrates a year on Central

Neighborhood Wine Shop, a hospitality-forward retail space that showcases “honest wine making,” is celebrating its one year anniversary May 22. The community is invited to raise a glass (or two) and toast the establishment’s first birthday.

The 500-square-foot shop, located at 2875 Central Ave. in St. Petersburg, is a collaborative project between Bryce Kennedy and Sydney Knowlton, wine enthusiasts and hospitality veterans. Fittingly, they met at a local wine bar.

Knowlton had been working at the now-shuttered CellarMasters on 1st Avenue N. where Kennedy, who drove from Lakeland to St. Pete to frequent the bar, was a regular. When a position opened up, Knowlton suggested that Kennedy join the team. They worked together at CellarMasters for over two years before departing to pursue other ventures.

“We had some regulars that kind of hunted us down,” said Knowlton, “and were like, ‘We miss you guys. What are you doing? What does it take for you to open your own space?’”

What it was going to take was money. The regulars had a series of conversations with Knowlton and Kennedy, and offered to be “silent partners,” helping to foot some of the initial operating costs so that Neighborhood could get off the ground running.

“It came together really fast – we got the keys in January, opened up in May, and then here we are, a year later,” Knowlton explained.

“St. Pete is an incredible place for this kind of thing because people are very receptive. It’s community driven, and people are very open.”

Neighborhood Wine Shop is where wine connoisseurs can come to geek out. They feature obscure grape varietals like the rose saignée or welshriesling, as well as the more traditional pinot noir or barbera. Regardless of the grape, all the bottles in the shop are “hand-crafted, hand-selected, smaller box wines made by real people.”

They feature low-intervention wines that are unique to the regions and producers where they are crafted. These are wines with stories.

If you’re looking for Yellow Tail or 19 Crimes, keep it moving.

Knowlton and Kennedy hope to foster a space with a “Cheers-like” atmosphere, where people in the neighborhood feel comfortable stopping in – and everyone knows your name.

“We try to be the people that you know. I know your dog’s name. I know where you went on vacation last year because I see you every week,” explained Kennedy. .

“You know, to have this sort of warmth is very important for us, because it creates confidence in us to show people things that we’re excited about and they trust us. It kind of makes wine a little more approachable.”

In addition to selling wine, Neighborhood Wine Shop hosts tastings at least once monthly. Knowlton and Kennedy are committed to keeping the events free because they feel passionately about making wine more accessible.

“Fostering that next generation of, you know, wine enthusiasts is another, very important thing for us, and not even just for young people, but for everybody.”

Neighborhood Wine Shop’s first birthday party will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, May 22,  with over 30 different bottles to sample. Hot dogs will also be served. No RSVP necessary.