Mike Martin Leaves Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits After 13 Years

 
     It's been a great partnership with Mike Martin and me for the last ten years almost that I will have been here come this April, 2010. We worked together really well as a team and I am sorry that he is no longer here. We always put any of our differences aside and did what we felt was best and right for Cleveland Park our neighborhood/livelihood and customers and store. It was not always easy but we agreed always to put both our best faces forward and work together and do the very best that we could as a team with Santos and Ravi. And for the most part I think it worked quite well and we accomplished many more things successfully as a result of this collaboration. 

     Thanks Mike for all that you brought to us , the neighborhood and our customers. You will be missed. One of our customers was here yesterday ( Lisa ) and I had to tell her this news and she was both shocked and distressed. As she put it to me : " Tony , I only know of two people that have ever sold me wine in all these years, one being Mike and the other being Harry ... that shared my palate". Well Lisa, that is what it is all about and I realize that and was always happy that Mike was here working alongside me because it meant that we could do our job better and reach and assist more people better.

     So, now there will be some changes here in the store as I/we learn to work with our " new " Chris : Chris Barker that comes to us from both valuable experiences at Trader Joe's and also Dean & DeLuca. He's also younger and has a whole lot of computer experience as well as savvy about the cyberspace world that will be invaluable. Being younger , too he also represents a large part of our new customer demographics and age. I like that as I feel that many more of the people that we are selling today are younger and interested in the whole spectrum of alcohols that are available to them from beer, to liqueurs, liquors and wines of course.

     I also see this as a time that I want to expand my horizons and incorporate some new ideas and ways in which to push the current boundaries of this vast wine world of ours as we try and make it both more accessible/approachable and understandable to all of our customers new and old.

     I hope that we will all grow some more together this year as we set new and lofty and achievable wine goals and shared experiences that will enrich us immeasurably now and in the future. It simply has to be this way : we have to band together more and more and share in the boundless bounties of the ocean of wines now available to us here in Washington D.C.

     This is a great time for you the consumer : there is too much wine available to too few stores and establishments that can absorb it all. This means that if they want their products in distribution and going through the cycle that they will have to give us purchasers even more reason to buy them and not others.

     Chris Barker will help us wake-up more to the current popular trends available mostly it seems from the western hemisphere in both North and South America. I look forward to being dragged even more into the " new world " of wines as many of you know I almost always prefer the more " traditional " ones of the past. I don't mind being proved wrong. I don't mind saying that my assumption was way off and that I should have never presumed it in the first place.

     I am ready for change and that's both in my artistic/creative and professional world and outlook and frame of reference. This is a great moment to push forward and to excel and to be " all that we/ I can be !" Mike's departure has underlined this " need " that I find in myself to draw-together/rearrange and find closure and added fulfillment in all specters and areas of my life. I'd like to continue doing some of this in the " Cleveland Park arena " with you if possible. I'm game if you are?

     This means of course that many of the things that I have started already like this new web page of ours/ my various blogs, etcetera will be continued and strengthened. I will now have help on the web page from Chris Barker that likes to do this kind of thing and that is good as it is a task all in itself and does take  a certain amount of time to do some daily, lots weekly, and more.

     To Chris I look to find the " American Finds " that we have not always availed ourselves of much here. They are certainly out there and we hope to employ more Cleveland Park Wines ? Tony and Chris muscle to bring them to you and list them here on a " first come/first serve " basis. So expect more fine-wine opportunities than we have offered you in the past. We know that there are some of you out there hungry for them and that we will provide a valuable service to you in finding and bringing them to you.

     Of course we will continue to find as many " insane everyday values " to you all as they still exist and are our " cheap and cheerful and daily-butter " offerings to you and insane values. Some will be current offerings that the wholesalers need to move quickly; and others will be those with some bottle age that got lost somewhere in the shuffle but that are tasting really good now as they have aged sufficiently and the prices have been slashed, too. WIN-WIN situations for both of us I say.

     There may also be some video that will be added as I move into this arena this year and explore the possibilities of the ever-popular " moving-picture " and not just the individual frame of one picture. This is exciting and I can't wait to find those of you out there that might want to collaborate and share " your visions " and ideas with me/us so that we may actually work together on some of these wine/beer/liquor schemes that might be really rewarding for all of here in the community.

     Respond to this if you are interested in ways in which we can and may make our store more relevant and invaluable as both a tool/ a source/ an inspiration and a meeting place of minds/tastes and visions. Our world still needs places and services and " meeting places " like we offer and have here in our vibrant and animated community. Let's put our heads together and see what results ...

     Please let us know / share any concerns or ideas about how we may work better at making Cleveland Park and our store a better place for all of us.

     Come meet Chris Barker and give him and us a " new " chance. Perhaps we are now doing something that you will appreciate that we were not doing before?!? You won't know unless you come and check it out for yourselves.

     Mike, " au-revoir and bon chance et bon weekend a toi a Rochester, New York "! Good luck Mike and let's stay in touch as much as we can. If you discover any " gems/bijoux " or other things that we might be interested in knowing about here don't hesitate to email or call us.

     Cheers to one and to all. I'm psyched about 2010 wherever and whenever, and under whatever new or old situations/circumstances that we/I may find...

     I'm so happy for the food and wine, the people and family and the art expressions in our lives and all around us. Take care, be well and come us see us here often and let's brain/vision/soul-storm together ....    TONY