A wine and liquor store focused on smaller producers and artisanal production methods, including natural and organic wines, is coming into a long-empty spot next to Bed Stuy Fish Fry and across from Saratoga Park. Earth People Wine and Spirits is set to open in mid-August at 801 Halsey St. at the corner of Howard Avenue, according to owners Nadeen Nakib and Marc Haskin.
The area, the eastern edge of Bed-Stuy bordering Broadway and Bushwick, is short on boutique options, though there are some longtime liquor stores within a few blocks. While the name “Earth People” suggests a focus on natural and organic wine, some of the wines may not be technically fully natural and growers may not be certified organic although they are close and do not use pesticides.
The duo’s priority is supporting producers who are “committed to the earth,” said Haskins. Earth People Wine and Spirits will carry both natural and traditional wines from smaller makers. Suppliers will include Jenny & Francois and Super Glou, known for natural and “low intervention” wines from boutique operations in Europe and the U.S.
“What we wanted to focus on were people who were interested in conscientious farming, that tends to happen with smaller to medium sized producers who have the quality control, the capacity to steer that quality control consistently,” Haskins said. “I think we’re gonna have something for everyone for sure. If somebody can’t find their favorite brands at a small, 450-square-foot shop, we’re going to make it a point to introduce them to something that we think they would like.”
The couple plans to host weekly tastings that include discussions about wine and food pairings, with a strong emphasis on customer service, he added.
“Funny enough, I kind of hope primarily people take away the experience of talking with us first, and that we’re a great wine shop second. I really want hospitality to be part of this retail experience.”
Both from the Midwest, the couple met in graduate school for journalism in New York in 2009 and live in Fort Greene with their 2-year-old son. It has long been a “dream of ours” to open their own shop and work for themselves, Haskins said, and during the pandemic the hunt for a storefront picked up steam.
“We’d been looking in different neighborhoods for a while and spot after spot sort of fell through,” he said. “We came across this location and it just seems perfect,” with its prominent corner location on a major thoroughfare.
The storefront, located at the base of a pale brick circa 1900 building with a prominent cornice and three stories of apartments, was previously home to a long-shuttered real estate office. The closest stores focusing on small-production and natural wines are Heart’s at 1207 Broadway in Bushwick and Manny’s at 562 Halsey St. in Stuyvesant Heights.
While Nakib still works in the publishing world and will handle branding and administrative work for the business, Haskins said he left journalism in 2014 after feeling burnt out and disillusioned, transitioning into the restaurant world through Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group.
“I wanted to get out of a cubicle…I sort of worked my way up from a food runner to everything there, barista, server, expediter, bartender, and finally, sommelier,” he said. “It felt great to not be in the cubicle, constantly moving. And the pressure of being in a fine dining restaurant was just like I was living life.”
The job also provided a rich educational experience, Haskins said, and wine was at the center of it. “I thought it was just awesome to be able to learn about the world through wine without having to spend money to go everywhere.”
The store will be open Tuesday through Sunday, and at least one of the couple will always be at the store, possibly with their toddler in tow, Nakib said. They’ve already been forming connections with locals during the shop’s build-out, she said.
“We really have met so many people in the neighborhood, they have been so welcoming and so excited, and just sharing about themselves and wanting to learn about us,” she said. “We really want to keep that going, we want to know everybody that comes in and we’re going to remember them. We’ve been getting names. It’s really been such a wonderful experience.”
This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner
