Bates Area Civic Association

If you haven’t stopped by Sunset Wine & Liquors at 1627 1st St NW recently, check it out. It looks like a whole different store.

Where there used to be a plexiglass enclosed register on the first floor, there’s now tall shelves of wine. (I got a good chilled white for about $10.) The register, meanwhile, sits behind an open countertop across the room, which the owners, the Singhs, are going to turn into a deli counter in the next few weeks – complete with cheese to pair with the wine. Upstairs, the fridges now include beers from New Belgium Brewing Co., Sam Adams, and my personal favorite, Yuengling.

Mr. Singh, his wife B.K., and their partner and cousin, Bobby, say that these changes are only the beginning. “We want to be known as the cleanest store in the area,” Bubby says. “We think people will be very happy. So far, they definitely appreciate it.”

They’ve known the store could use some help for a while now, but a drop in business in 2008 and 2009 meant that the funds just weren’t available. They were finally able to start this year, and so far, Mr. Singh and Bubby tell me, business has been improving every day.

It’s a big improvement over when they first opened Sunset about ten years ago. Back then, they say the neighborhood was more dangerous – they were robbed three times. “We had to hide things in the back as much as we could!” explains Bubby. The stress of safety and long hours actually led Bobby, who has a young family, to try to sell his share in the business at one point, only to have it revert back to him after the buyer went bankrupt.

Now, though, he says that he’s having fun. (And with Bubby being the hands-down owner of the just-created “Quickest Smile Award” among BACA businesses, it’s not hard to tell.) “We love seeing people enjoy the store,” he says, “When you’re enjoying it, we enjoy it too.”

When I asked Bubby and Mr. Singh what they would most like to communicate to the neighborhood, the response was immediate and non-equivocal: tell them what you want. Says Mr. Singh, “Whether they like something, whether they don’t like something, let us know. All suggestions are welcome.”

So head over to Sunset Wine & Liquors and let Mr. Singh, B.K. and Bubby know what you think!