Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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Most brokerages make you choose: One asset class. For life. Discover more for yourself and your business at RE/MAX Commercial,® where you have the flexibility to work multiple market segments and invest in the tools you want. Freedom. That's the Sign of an Agent with RE/MAX Commercial ©2016 RE/MAX, LLC. Each RE/MAX® office is independently owned and operated. 16_99967 remaxcommercial.com Office • Industrial • Retail • Multi-family • Land Commercial Development • Hospitality 22 S C T / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 A nyone seeking to sample some of Deer Creek Win- ery's roughly 20 varieties will come up dry at the local liquor store or bottle shop. A search over at the local shopping cen- ter, however, could yield a happy result. Rhonda and Denis Brooks knew in 2009 when they launched their Penn- sylvania-based winery that they wanted to interact directly with their customers, so that they could share their stories and their passion for wines. But a visit out to the nearly 100-acre winery, in Ship- penville, Pa., some two hours from Pitts- burgh, was anything but convenient for many. The winery would have to go out to these customers, as it were. "We started with the retail locations because people were asking us for them," said co-owner Rhonda, who is married to Denis and is speaking for this article. "We kept hear- ing people say, 'Oh, I wish it was closer.' " The couple tested their mall strategy in 2010 with a kiosk at Clarion (Pa.) Mall that wound up doing very well. Today, besides the main winery, the company operates five stores across the state, the most recent of which opened in September at McCandless (Pa.) Crossing, about 10 miles from Pitts- burgh. The others are at Beaver Valley Mall, in Monaca; Clearview Mall, in Butler; Kohl's Plaza, in Hermitage; and The Mall at Robinson, in Pittsburgh. "We had several national retailers to start off the [McCandless] project, and then we were really looking for some smaller businesses to bring that local fla- vor into the development," said Anna Dougherty, marketing and social-media coordinator for Adventure Development, developer of the 1.2 million-square- foot, mixed-use McCandless Crossing project. Deer Creek Winery not only fit the bill but also offered shoppers an interesting experience, Dougherty says. Deer Creek's wine tastings are free of charge and rich in interpersonal ex- change. "A lot of the time, we also have something to taste or pair with to talk to you about during the tasting process," said Brooks. Deer Creek also sells fla- vored balsamic vinegars, gourmet olive oils, wine sorbets, and wine-related ac- cessories and gifts. The stores range in S T O R E F R O N T S DEER WINERY PREFERS CENTERS FOOD & BEVERAGE By Beth Mattson-Teig