THE HEIGHTS – Seems today, competition among grocery stores is fierce.
The HEB on West Alabama has had dance lessons, the Whole Foods on Richmond has an in-store brewery, and now the Kroger on North Shepherd in the Heights, has opened a bar inside the store. It’s called Cork and Tap and it comes with a wine guru.
Jaime DeLeon is an Advanced Sommelier Master Candidate at The Heights store. His job is to help customers with different types of questions including food pairing or beer pairing.
“I trust him because I know he knows what he’s talking about. So he can steer me in the right direction,” says customer Alison Brown.
“It’s great. It’s always nice to stop by and have a beer when you’re shopping. They also offer more selection here than most regular beer selections,” says Justin Fewox.
The new bar has a dozen beers and 16 wines on tap, eight red and eight white, but that doesn’t mean you have to try ‘em all at once.
Will this bar make The Heights Kroger the hot new pickup spot?
“Absolutely! It’s totally going to be the place where people are going to hang out, drink a little wine and just totally change the image of my Kroger,” says shopper Martha Martinez.
“I don’t know that it’s going to be that big of a pickup spot” explains Fewox.
“As a married man, I would not think that it was a hot spot, but if I were single again I would probably come to a grocery store to look for chicks,” jokes Chris Brown.
Fun fact: customers who buy their wine here are allowed to pop the cork in the bar area, but drink responsibly. There’s a two glass limit, so we can avoid any ‘cart collisions’ or cleanups on Aisle 5.
