Unwined expanding Belle View location, planning for future wine bar

Unwined opened in the Belle View Shopping Center in 2009.

Unwined has flourished since opening nine years ago at the Belle View Shopping Center, offering customers an assortment of wines, craft beers and gourmet items.

But Unwined’s success brought a problem: its cozy corner space at 1600A Belle View Boulevard was getting a little too crowded. So when the owners of Richard Carroll, a neighboring gift and jewelry shop, decided to retire in August, Unwined owner Vanessa Moore saw an opportunity.

“As much as we love the quaint feel of the existing location, we’re cramped with around 1,650 square feet of merchandising and storage space, which restricts our ability to expand product selection and services, or as I prefer to think of it, ‘limits our fun,'” said Moore, who opened the Belle View location in 2009 and lives near the store. Unwined also has a location on King Street in the Bradlee Shopping Center.

The new Belle View space has more than 2,500 square feet for retail use and another 3,000 square feet for storage. That storage area may be used for future add-ons, such as a temperature-controlled storage area and a space for wine certification courses, Moore said.

The move to the new space will happen in stages, but Moore is planning to use it prior to the holidays for a craft beer pop-up shop. It will feature an expanded growler filling station with 14 faucets, Nitro Coffee, wine draft lines, glassware, gift items, grab-and-go meats and cheeses and more.

Moore said Unwined is hoping to hold an opening day for the pop-up shop on Dec. 6. The shop will be open seven days a week through the end of the year. Unwined’s regular business will continue to operate during that time as well, with modified holiday hours, Moore said.

“The wine shop and all of its fab products and services will continue to operate in the original space with holiday hours starting Saturday, Dec. 1,” Moore said. The store will open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

After the holidays, the plan is to finish moving the entire store into the new space.

And the old space? It’s still in the planning stages, but Moore envisions it becoming a southern-style wine bar featuring small plates, with approximately 40 seats. The goal is to open by early summer of 2019.