ABC Fine Wine & Spirits – a popular retail store that has counted islanders and mainlanders alike as loyal customers for more than two decades – is leaving its longtime 10,000-square-foot prime spot as the end store in the Miracle Mile Plaza on 21st Street and has begun building a two-story store in the parking lot on the west side of the Wells Fargo Bank in the same shopping center.
The private Orlando-based, family-owned company broke ground on the new building last week.
“We have outgrown the store we have there,” said Bob Gibson, ABC chief marketing officer. “[The new store] will be state-of-the-art, with all the bells and whistles.”
Temporary fencing is already up, cutting off the square-shaped store site from the rest of the parking lot, while a construction sign tells customers all about the project.
The new building will have 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and another 4,000 square feet for storage on the second level, said Kelly Brinker, the store manager.
“We wanted to remodel and needed more room,” Brinker said. “We’re excited about this.”
Gibson said the new store is scheduled to open in February. ABC just opened a store in Indialantic in Brevard County, one of about a dozen new stores built this year, he said. In all, ABC has 138 stores in Florida.
ABC also has a second store in Vero on State Road 60 and 58th Avenue. It opened six years ago.
The current Miracle Mile ABC store was rare case where ABC rented space in a strip center and didn’t have its own freestanding building. “More than 95 percent [of our stores] are freestanding,” Gibson said.
The new Vero store will feature wine taps, a walk-in humidor, and a 12-line brew stop growler filling station, all in the context of an upscale store design, according to the ABC sign at the construction site.
With ABC vacating its well-known “endcap” location on 21st Street across the road from the Publix shopping center, brokers from around the state have already begun calling local commercial real estate agent Billy Moss, who represents the property owner.
“The lease is up at the end of 2017, but they may be released early,” Moss said.
He said the 10,000 square feet is too big for a single brand chain restaurant, which typically uses about 3,000 square feet. So there could be a retail store and two restaurants splitting the spot, though it’s too early to tell.
“I have brokers from all over Florida calling me,” Moss said.
Moss noted that the ABC location is one the retailer’s highest grossing stores. Its Miracle Mile location provides easy access for both island residents and those who live on the Vero mainland.
The new ABC building will have prime frontage on 21st Street in the center of the shopping center where Fresh Market is located. But it will gobble up parking spaces in the lot, which already gets crowded when the season kicks in.
Tim McGarry, the city’s development chief, said he doesn’t anticipate that parking will be a problem because he said ABC has complied with the city’s parking standards.
Gibson, ABC marketing chief, said the new Vero store will not be like Total Wine, which is a retail competitor. He said Total Wine’s set-up is more like a “warehouse,” while this store will have an upscale feel inside.
