We’ll Miss You, Wine Down on Main

By Jillian Owens

It’s a sad weekend on Main Street, friends.  Wine Down on Main, a favorite spot for event goers, art mavens, and the Soda City Farmers Market crowd is closing its doors this weekend.

It all began with this paragraph from their weekly newsletter:

“Yes, the rumors are true, we are closing our doors.  It greatly saddens us because we have had an amazing journey here on Main St.  But, our building was sold and the purchaser wants this to be an office space.  We agree, with the majority, that this is a step in the wrong direction for Main Street but there is nothing we can do.”

NOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOooooOOOO!

Wine Down has always been a special place.  Tiny and intimate, it was always a nice cozy venue to meet with friends after a long day at work.  On First Thursdays, it transformed into a bustling hub for the who’s who of the Columbia art scene.  One of my favorite Saturday rituals when the weather was nice was to meet with a girlfriend for mimosas at one of their outdoor bistro tables.  The merchants and shoppers of the farmers market bustled around us and it really felt like we were a part of something that was growing and coming into its own.  The dodgy Main Street of five years ago was replaced with something that felt…well…like a real city.  A place to gather and converge as a community.

Cheers!

Wine Down on Main has been a big part of our Main Street’s success, and it saddens me to think that this special little place will soon hold something as bland, colorless, and boring as an office.  Very few things that are fun, exciting, and lively have ever happened in an office, so I have reason to think very few things will when Wine Down is gone.  I sincerely hope this isn’t a sign of further development in this direction.  The owner, Patti and the rest of her staff were always friendly and fun to be around.  I’ll be sad if I don’t see them anymore.

Wine Down on Main’s last day of business will be Saturday, December 20^th.  Come out and raise a glass to this wonderful little place (and buy up whatever wine they have left at a discount).  And let’s all keep our fingers crossed that Wine Down isn’t winding down, and that they’ll find a new home to make special very soon.

Cheers, and thanks for the great times!

Jillian Owens is a writer, designer, and eco-fashion revolutionary. A Columbia SC transplant, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Theatre and English. When she’s not gallivanting about, she’s busy refashioning ugly thrift store duds into fashionable frocks at ReFashionista.net or helping the underserved through her work in Community Impact at United Way of the Midlands. She also reviews local theater productions for Jasper Magazine and Onstage Columbia, and is an occasional contributor for The Free Times. Any comments, questions, or crude remarks can be directed to [email protected].