Read Between the Vines with CoolVines Owner Mark Censits
If there is one quality of life issue that Jersey City residents seem unanimous about, it’s our appreciation of distinctly unique local retail. Local wine shop CoolVines does not disappoint.
Owned by Native New Jerseyan and entrepreneur Mark Censits, CoolVines also sells a thoughtfully curated selection of Craft Beers, Spirits, cheeses and other snacks.
You opened your first shop in Princeton and had a store in Westfield. What brought you here to Jersey City?
I guess I’d say that it was karma, in the form of [local developer] Paul Silverman. Back in 2008, he walked into CoolVines in Westfield. We started talking shop and he told me he had a new building going up in Jersey City and that he was actually looking for a contemporary wine and spirits operator! Six years and some market swings later, we opened here in 2014. We started in a 650 sq. foot space on the corner of York and Grove. Now we are in the ground floor of a much larger space [The Silverman-owned Charles & Co. building, on the corner of Grove St. and Montgomery St.].
You must get incredible foot traffic.
We do. The location [across from City Hall} is prime for that. We have many customers who stop in almost every night to grab wine on their way home. While I am sure we feel some impact from online shopping, which in fact we also offer, I think for people, wine is an “in the moment” purchase, picking something out that goes with the dinner that they have planned for that evening, for example.
Do you have a particular type or brand name of wine that is most popular among your regulars?
Not really, partially because our inventory rotates quite a bit. We work exclusively with a small group of importers and wholesalers who share our passion for wine that is produced in an authentic manner, which means it’s basically an agricultural product. Each year’s grape harvest determines the amount of wine they can make, and when it’s gone, it’s gone…until the next harvest. But we do definitely have an average price point among our customers, and that is bottles in the 10 to 15 dollar range. We take a great amount of pride in providing our customers with a great selection of well-made wines in an everyday price range.
As a customer, selecting a wine can be a bit overwhelming, with all the options out there. How do you select what wines will be on your shelves?
We work with a small group of merchants who share our passion for this. Each week, we host a forum that we call Wine Council with a number of our staff and one of our suppliers. It’s a 3-hour meeting that includes a review of the selections currently being offered by that supplier as well as an extensive tasting of potential new wines. For every wine that we pick, it’s important to us that we get the story behind the producer, the place, etc. so that we can pass that on to customers.
How has your experience been as a small business owner here in Jersey City?
Our experience has been that the City really recognizes the ambition that merchants and business owners bring to the town. The energy and spirit of this town make it such a cool place to be.
Do you have any plans for expansion?
Yes. We are opening a second location in the PAD [Powerhouse Arts District], on the ground floor of the Modera Lofts building on Warren Street. It will be called CoolVines Powerhouse! We expect to open sometime this spring or early summer. We will have a coffee shop and café with prepared foods and tables for customers to eat and chat. We will also be expanding our Wine Education classes with classes offered in the &Co co-working spaces at 201 Montgomery St. We also host regular wine tastings in apartment building community rooms and in private homes.
What’s the best way for a customer to fast-track their wine knowledge?
Come to our wine tastings, held every Friday and Saturday evening. Taste and ask questions! We are currently running a program for our Friday tastings that we call Read Between the Vines, where we feature wines that seem on the surface to be unrelated, but have a common element among them.
CoolVines, 276 Grove St., (201) 448-8657 https://jerseycity.coolvines.com