“I think having a wine locker builds a sense of ownership here—commitment. When you have a wine locker you say, this is my place,” says Michael, a customer of Cellar 59, a wine bar owned by Dan and Tami Kedziorek located at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township.
Cellar 59 is known for its wine lockers, recently showcased in a special tasting event featuring six wines. Says Dan, “Every month we have a wine tasting. Guests have the opportunity to taste the wine and then order. The wine order usually comes in within one week and is placed in their wine locker for their next visit.” The tastings are a great way to try high-end and obscure wines, with Tami working with distributors to bring in a curated selection for each event.
The bar has 18 wine lockers, says Dan, and they have been available for just over a year. “We don’t run this like a typical wine locker club,” he continues. “At places such as Morton’s or a yacht club, lockers can cost $500 to $5000 or more, just for the locker, and these places usually do not host tasting events.” At Cellar 59, wine lockers cost $100 every six months, and customers can defray some of the cost through discounts on wine purchases. Software tracks locker owners and the vintages, prices paid, and when bottles were added and removed, including a historical section of bottles used.
Dan and Tami were inspired to start the lockers from their travels. “We travel a lot,” he says, “there are differences about how we do things in Michigan and how they do things in say, Cape Cod, Florida, California, wherever.” Dan built the lockers in his living room. “I decided to design them myself,” he says. “I picked out the wood and designed custom moldings.” Dan also created the software used to track the wine lockers. “I’m a computer person,” he continues, “I designed the software the way I wanted it, and when we need updates, I can just go in there and update it.”
Guests with wine lockers find them useful in surprising ways. One customer, Lisa, who runs a travel agency, finds her locker at Cellar 59 indispensable when meeting potential clients to discuss their honeymoon plans over a glass of wine and a waitstaff who know her by name. Another locker owner, Andrea, says, “I wanted to have a light wine locker for when I come here to work during the day and have some wine. Before you know it there’s another girl here by herself. And then another one. It’s like Starbucks, but with wine!”
There’s no pretense here, says Dan. “If you're here, you’re part of it. That’s very unusual. That's our clientele.” Michael agrees. “This is the friendliest wine bar I’ve ever been to. Every time I sit in this bar everybody's introducing themselves, everybody's talking to each other, and becoming friends. It is literally the friendliest bar I have ever experienced. It's like Cheers.”
There’s no pretense here, says Dan. “If you're here, you’re part of it. That’s very unusual. That's our clientele.”
