New Jersey's Most Entertaining Liquor Store

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[Music]

00:21
[Applause]

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until i hit the stage

00:33
what's up everybody welcome to another

00:35
episode of greetings from the garden

00:36
state i'm mike ham we're here at main

00:38
street wine cellars in madison new

00:39
jersey with the owners with the owner

00:41
amrish vakil absolutely that's hard to

00:43
say

00:44
over and over again this could be tough

00:45
during this episode amrish fakil amrish

00:47
welcome to the show thank you thank you

00:49
for having me i'm so excited and thank

00:51
you for doing this for us yes yeah of

00:53
course i mean so we connected because we

00:55
did

00:56
the bourbon barbecue and blues event

00:58
absolutely daddy maddie's barbecue which

01:00
is an episode that had posted before

01:02
this episode comes out um so everybody

01:04
will know daddy maddie's and now they're

01:05
gonna know you um but that was awesome

01:08
you know like you had all the different

01:10
bourbons you were talking about all the

01:11
different bourbons and i'm sure we're

01:12
going to talk a little bit about that

01:13
later

01:14
but talk to me a little bit about the

01:15
business itself so how long have you

01:16
been here all that kind of stuff so

01:18
main street wine cellar we bought it in

01:20
2006.

01:22
so it's now almost 16 years i'm at this

01:26
location

01:28
and

01:29
prior to that

01:31
i had a business in princeton uh i had a

01:34
restaurant okay diner yeah

01:36
i don't think about it right now because

01:39
a lot of nightmares no it wasn't that

01:40
bad but and prior to that i was in new

01:43
york city for almost 11 years yeah uh so

01:46
been in a retail for last 28 years but

01:50
in this business

01:51
wine and liquor for the last 16 years

01:53
okay yeah that's the same location what

01:55
was what made you make the jump from

01:58
doing the diner thing to now doing this

02:00
yeah so uh

02:02
very good friend of mine nicole patel

02:05
uh now he has a couple of wine shops

02:08
and he had back in days uh in chatham

02:11
called hickory wine cellar yeah and i

02:13
was newly married back then and

02:16
i lived in new york city for like 10 12

02:18
years and i want to get out of that

02:20
hustle bustle and come to the suburb and

02:22
whatnot and this opportunity came along

02:26
uh so he was like hey you want to join

02:28
me and

02:29
we do it together and whatnot and so i

02:31
joined him it's just like any other

02:33
retail business yeah at that time i

02:35
wasn't

02:37
like that much into wine or bourbon or

02:40
beer per se i wasn't even drinking back

02:42
then yeah

02:43
but the opportunity came along as a reta

02:45
uh retail business popped up so i was

02:47
like hey why not and i joined his

02:50
business learned there for like a year

02:51
or so and then we bought this business

02:53
yeah so talk to me about that too so

02:55
like you know you don't have much of a

02:56
background necessarily in like you know

02:58
you said alcohol right right um and

03:00
weren't even much of a drinker so you

03:02
don't even know like really what your

03:03
tastes like yeah absolutely back then no

03:06
clue whatever yeah so then you open up

03:08
this place and like that's literally

03:09
like your whole job like yes that's what

03:11
we did at the bourbon thing yes yes like

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i had a note you had to tell me like

03:14
this one's this this one tastes like

03:15
this this one takes the edge off

03:17
whatever it is yeah you know so

03:19
i mean how long did it take you to kind

03:21
of get like you immerse yourself into

03:22
that world so uh what happened was first

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of all i just um

03:27
i bought that book from kevin uh zerally

03:31
or sally the windows of the world okay

03:33
um

03:34
to know about all the wine region

03:37
uh started taking some half a bottle of

03:39
wine home and

03:41
just differentiate what is white what is

03:43
red pirouette cabernet white zinfandel

03:46
whatever the case may be

03:48
and then one thing that i did back uh

03:50
while i was in hickory wine cellar this

03:52
moment 16 years if there is an

03:54
opportunity for me to go and try wine

03:57
at the wine expo

03:59
or the convention what not i was the

04:01
first one to be there yeah

04:03
and i was trying anything comes my way i

04:06
will try them i will never say no right

04:08
a lot of the retailer nowadays and back

04:10
then too they were like oh i don't try

04:12
to have a time

04:13
but me

04:14
i was always educating my palette all

04:18
day long yeah yeah yeah which i think is

04:20
interesting because i feel like a lot of

04:21
people will just like that own a liquor

04:23
store or whatever they just kind of like

04:25
open up and

04:26
there you go yeah there you go they just

04:27
sit behind the counter right so then you

04:29
but you can't really like make

04:30
recommendations or absolutely like

04:32
actually like develop that trust with

04:33
the customer absolutely yeah and so what

04:36
i did i started trying wine and i was

04:39
like the only way i can go and relate to

04:40
the customer if i know about it right

04:42
yeah

04:43
uh i can differentiate from apple to

04:44
orange if i do not have a taste in my

04:46
mouth how could i talk about it exactly

04:48
not so

04:49
going to all these conventions and

04:51
reading books and whatnot and over a

04:53
period of time you know you learn you

04:55
learn every day you try different wine

04:57
and and pairing with them food and

05:00
whatnot yeah and so i started then and

05:03
and all of a sudden when i joined the

05:05
business it was just any other business

05:07
i want to do good in business i want to

05:09
learn the business

05:10
and take it to the next level but in

05:12
between

05:13
i fall in love with how it is getting

05:16
done yeah

05:17
it's just not an uh kind of an commodity

05:20
that you buy certain subs and put you on

05:22
the shelves it's not a microphone that

05:24
you're wearing right now or it's not a

05:27
book or it's not a whatever you call it

05:29
you know it's it takes a lot into this

05:32
wine thing how it is grown where it is

05:34
grown who is the wine maker the whole

05:36
nine yard and that the passion came in

05:39
me and i was like wow this is an art

05:41
this is this is like a music when or

05:44
an artist drawing an art or a picture

05:46
whatever you do right so that's

05:48
intrigued me a lot and all of a sudden

05:51
i fall in love with it and then i

05:53
started learning more and more and more

05:55
educate myself more and boom here i am

05:58
yeah which i think is is great and

06:00
you're right because i do feel like it's

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you know like an art because people get

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into that kind of stuff right you know

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just as much as they do

06:08
like that right you know you could be

06:09
just as into beautiful paintings as you

06:11
can be into like wine and right in music

06:14
right exactly or music or you play music

06:16
if i'm normal do you play some kind of a

06:18
guitar or you don't i look like i do

06:20
because of the beard maybe yeah but yeah

06:22
but no guitar no guitar but i do this

06:24
and this is kind of this is an art form

06:25
this is our formula my creative right

06:27
right absolutely i agree yeah so um

06:30
let's also talk a little bit about like

06:31
you know so somebody looks you guys up

06:33
and they're like all right main street

06:34
wine cellars they must sell wine but

06:36
obviously you sell a lot more than that

06:38
exactly so talk to me about maybe just

06:39
like i mean we could see it here in the

06:41
background of the video i mean there's a

06:42
lot of stuff here and so this is just

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like you can come here and get anything

06:45
you want anything you want yeah we are

06:47
pretty unique that way and as around us

06:50
i have a couple of pop-up stores i have

06:52
empanadas and some desserts and whatnot

06:55
but as far as wine and and we are not

06:57
only yes we do take a pride in ourselves

07:00
as a main sheet wine cellar which is i

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have a passion for wine i love it

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uh but we have

07:06
a tremendous collection of single mod

07:08
whiskey from all over the world

07:11
and whole bunch of bourbon

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tequila rum

07:15
gin

07:16
a lot of crab beer and i have a new

07:19
manager which is not any more new but

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been with us for now almost a year and a

07:23
change he's into like he's a beer geek

07:26
and he loves his beer and crap here so

07:29
we have a huge selection uh i would say

07:31
one of the useless in north jersey as

07:33
far as the craft beer is concerned yeah

07:35
so we have everything that you need

07:37
at one location at main street wine

07:40
cellar yes right yeah yeah which i love

07:42
and then i've also seen you know stuff

07:44
about like the prices and stuff posted

07:45
on like a lot of the shelves we talked

07:47
about that too yeah yeah so what we do

07:50
is if you see they're all kind of

07:52
uniform we have one color uh theme going

07:54
on which is neon green that we use but i

07:57
want to like you know a lot of the time

07:58
when you walk into a it could be a wine

08:00
shop or a beer uh

08:02
a bar or whatever the case may be and

08:04
you have no clue like you know that day

08:07
you want to drink a juicy hazy ipa or if

08:09
you wanted to drink a bourbon

08:11
which you never had in your life and the

08:13
glass of bourbon is 15 or whatever the

08:16
wine bottle is 45 out of the restaurant

08:19
how do you make a judgment that this is

08:21
what i want so what we trying to do is

08:24
create a shaft talker or read about the

08:26
wine search it

08:28
on google or wine.com or whatnot

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and

08:32
and then if i had the wine then i would

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put my input in it that hey

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this is a taste profile that i i have on

08:38
this wine and then we create a shop

08:40
talker so if you walk in you never had

08:42
that kind of cabernet from napa or pinot

08:45
noir from chile or

08:47
uh new zealand sauvignon blanc yeah

08:50
you need to know what taste profile is

08:52
sure so you will read it now oh i love i

08:55
love

08:56
boysenberry and this one i love the dark

08:58
fruit in this one or i love the

08:59
raspberry in the pinot noir that makes

09:01
your life easier to pick that bottle of

09:03
wine

09:04
and then we put a food padding along

09:06
with it so if you're going out that

09:08
dinner with your wife or girlfriend or

09:10
whatever the case may be now we know hey

09:12
i'm going to this japanese restaurant

09:13
let me buy this sake or i'm going to

09:16
this indian restaurant

09:18
for chicken tikka masala i want to put a

09:20
nice light pinot noir or going to a

09:23
steakhouse i want a hearty

09:25
good tannin cabernet yeah so we we do

09:27
that we try to

09:29
put all this information on one shop

09:30
talker yeah to make the customer's life

09:32
easy yeah which i think is great because

09:34
i mean like i think it could be

09:35
intimidating for somebody that doesn't

09:37
know that's why i like you know i mean

09:39
after college i probably drank blood

09:40
light for years right right because i

09:42
didn't know anything else exactly

09:44
um and then it took me you know just

09:45
experimenting on my own to try to find

09:47
stuff that i like right yeah and then

09:48
this makes it so much easier right you

09:50
know what i mean which i think is

09:51
fantastic so but then also i mean i

09:54
would imagine like obviously if you're

09:55
here and then most of your staff like

09:57
you try to educate them as well to try

09:59
to make sure that they can make those

10:00
same recommendations too absolutely so

10:02
what we do is when uh

10:05
a sales rep or a supplier or wholesaler

10:08
comes to us with a bag of wine

10:11
i try to make sure that my staff is

10:13
trained so my assistant manager my

10:15
manager andy assistant manager charlie

10:17
the manager

10:18
right in the third key

10:20
whoever are legal over age of 21 because

10:23
i have a few young kids also work but i

10:25
make sure that we try along with them

10:28
right and

10:29
i always like i never judge the book by

10:33
its cover okay he could be 23 year old

10:37
young guy out of college he never had an

10:38
experience

10:39
or a 35 year old catcher who who has

10:42
been drinking consuming wine and whatnot

10:44
but i always try to take their input

10:47
because everybody is a different palette

10:49
yeah of course right so i i try along

10:52
with them and i ask them questions what

10:54
do you think tell me

10:55
what do you find in this wine how does

10:57
it sit on your palette

10:59
does it take you anywhere does it remind

11:01
you of what kind of fruit and whatnot

11:03
and then we make a collective uh

11:04
decision okay you know this is a wine it

11:06
will work for us yeah and how confident

11:09
are you that you can sell this mine

11:10
right that's the other thing too i would

11:12
ask is like do you ever do you like not

11:14
carry stuff because you just don't

11:16
really

11:17
like it or stand behind it or something

11:20
so certain time

11:22
there's a two aspect in this in our

11:24
industries like

11:26
listen everybody's going to go out and

11:27
they need their hyundai or or whatever

11:30
the case may be or honda car which is a

11:32
reliable car you know it's going to take

11:34
you from point to point a to point b in

11:36
our industry they call a

11:38
uh first loss leader and a national

11:40
brand so simi kendall jackson

11:44
has

11:45
jaylor whatever the case may be those

11:47
are national brand it does not matter

11:50
what part of the usa you're gonna go you

11:51
take a flight to go to oregon go to

11:53
florida go to chicago this brand you

11:56
will find in every supermarket right

11:58
people can relate to it and they will

12:00
buy and they are a good bottle of wine

12:03
but it does not excite me yeah i want

12:07
i want that esoteric wine that mike has

12:10
a two-acre property somewhere in

12:11
washington

12:13
and then he's producing it it's a lot of

12:15
dlc in that wine yeah it's a

12:16
family-owned right so those kind of wine

12:19
intrigues me more

12:20
than the national brand yes i have to

12:22
keep then yeah and to because people

12:24
know it people know what they will

12:26
sell it we can sell it and what not but

12:28
the wine that is um

12:30
it's a little bit different than those

12:32
it's not a factory wine

12:34
uh it's not a big corporation wine and

12:36
nothing against them we need that don't

12:38
get me wrong but what excites me is all

12:41
small family veneers there's a little

12:42
bit history behind it a lot of passion

12:44
be behind that one those are the ones

12:47
that i seek for and then i try them and

12:49
educate myself and then

12:51
that one i take it to my customer right

12:53
and try to educate them as well yeah

12:55
yeah so i feel like that that's just

12:56
like a great way like we were saying

12:57
before i mean like a lot of times you

12:59
walk into a liquor store and be like hey

13:00
what what do you think of this and

13:01
they'll have like no clue right you know

13:03
what i mean but here it just seems like

13:05
and that's one of the things we've

13:06
talked a lot about on this show is so

13:07
far is kind of building up that

13:09
relationship with the customer exactly

13:11
that's what it is

13:12
they're trying to do yeah they trust

13:13
that you're going to give them a good

13:14
recommendation exactly so when you go to

13:16
a restaurant and you sometime you have

13:18
no clue but you read it right that hey

13:20
uh this particular dish has this truffle

13:23
sauce on it and it's this way you still

13:25
ask this chef how does it you know you

13:28
cook this one or i love shrimp and uh i

13:31
can give me some grilled shrimp but i

13:33
don't know bad of a nice salad and

13:35
whatnot yeah and then if i'm having a

13:36
wine with you but i still ask them

13:38
questions and hey he or she can tell me

13:41
oh this is the way we're cooking this

13:42
one and uh

13:44
on a low heat and blah blah blah blah

13:45
blah and now i have a little bit more

13:47
confident okay you know what i like it i

13:49
will go for it same thing we apply food

13:51
and wine goes hand in hand of course and

13:53
and same thing we apply that to

13:56
our wine that hey this is where it's

13:58
going to go with it or ask them a

14:00
question what is your taste profile

14:01
because not every time i like what are

14:03
you going to like okay yeah right

14:04
everybody's a different palette you know

14:06
i have a different background yeah

14:08
crying out loud and i grew up eating

14:10
spicy food and whatnot right and i never

14:13
had steak in my life don't get me wrong

14:14
right but then i educated such myself

14:17
okay i never had

14:18
uh baby back ribs and i wasn't eating

14:22
for whatever reason but then i was like

14:23
you know what let me start eating it

14:25
because if i'm gonna recommend somebody

14:27
a good granacha from a spanish region

14:29
which is a little bit of the juiciness

14:31
if it's going to go with my baby back

14:33
ribs i need to know so i started eating

14:35
that right i started going to japanese

14:37
restaurant

14:38
uh i was running to uh

14:40
what he called japanese food or rolls

14:42
and whatnot sushi sushi and what not but

14:44
then

14:45
i was like you know what

14:47
no no no i gotta eat this yeah for me to

14:50
sell good sake yeah or some good crisps

14:52
white wine will go with it

14:54
i started now i fall in love with the

14:56
food and now i can exactly right i

14:59
cannot stop and now i can pair

15:01
them together exactly so it's a learning

15:04
process and uh every day till date

15:06
listen i take a lot of pride in what i

15:09
did over a period of time and and you

15:12
know no not to other stores and whatnot

15:13
but my knowledge in wine

15:15
is tremendous right now yeah uh i

15:18
traveled the whole

15:19
wine world for last six seven years

15:22
and uh pairing

15:24
wine with food and learning about the

15:26
region the weather the soil the wine

15:29
maker

15:30
so i have an edge on

15:32
over a lot of the other wine stores out

15:34
there and

15:35
they are they have their own knowledge

15:37
and whatnot but i have a passion for it

15:39
i i literally do have a passion for wine

15:42
and until date

15:43
it's growing it's not like oh i'm at a

15:45
level that oh no you learn every single

15:48
day yeah and you you educate yourself

15:50
more and more and more awesome yeah all

15:52
right great yeah no that was fantastic

15:54
that was a great first second we went a

15:55
little longer than i thought we were

15:56
gonna um but that's okay so we're gonna

15:58
take a short break uh we are here at

16:00
main street wine cellars in madison new

16:02
jersey with amrit fakil this is the

16:03
greatest greetings from the garden state

16:04
podcast i'm mike hamm we'll be right

16:06
back

16:08
it is time for today in new jersey

16:10
history on december 20th 1963 tennis

16:13
player pam casale was born in camden new

16:15
jersey and raised in fairfield at one

16:18
point in her career she was ranked 14th

16:19
in the world and was also voted the most

16:22
temperamental women's player in the

16:24
mid-1980s and that is today in new

16:27
jersey history

16:30
all right we're back this is the

16:31
greetings from the garden state podcast

16:33
i'm mike ham we're here at main street

16:34
wine cellars in madison new jersey with

16:36
amrit fakil so i'm in the first segment

16:38
we kind of talked about your background

16:40
uh the background of main street wine

16:41
cellars here the background of the

16:43
business kind of your immersion into the

16:46
world of spirits and wines and beers and

16:49
all that kind of stuff and pairing them

16:50
with foods um but i kind of want to take

16:52
it like a different way too on the

16:54
personality side because basically so

16:56
like i was just mentioning before off

16:57
mike um we went to the like i said

17:00
earlier in the first segment we went to

17:01
the barbecue bourbon and blues thing at

17:02
daddy maddie's we were we met you you

17:05
were doing the bourbon tastings i said

17:07
to my girlfriend ish i was like i have

17:08
to have amrish on the show and she was

17:10
like hell yeah um well so

17:13
thank you yes but just because i mean

17:15
those are the people that we want to

17:16
talk to people that have like a

17:18
personality so you're always the best

17:19
dressed guy you're the best dressed guy

17:20
i've interviewed so far i'll tell you

17:21
that right now

17:23
yeah and the best dressed guy maybe i've

17:25
seen on social media but like we were

17:26
saying with alex over here that it's not

17:28
an act like that's you

17:30
that's me yeah this is the way you're

17:31
gonna get this is who i am yeah 24 7 you

17:34
come saturday monday i'm gonna be right

17:37
listen so first of all i mean i'd love

17:39
to dress like everybody's different i

17:41
love dress i wish i was at wall street

17:43
wearing a suit every day i'll be the

17:44
first one doing it but that being said

17:46
i'm in this industry and sometimes my

17:49
wife what you're going to work why so

17:51
listen this is the way i am and i love

17:52
to

17:53
dress to success exactly that's my motto

17:55
right here right and i want to be

17:57
different i

17:58
when you walk in into my shop

18:00
i have my employee they're all wearing

18:02
either if you see andy is wearing a nice

18:04
jacket turtleneck he wears ties ryan if

18:07
you're going to mop you're going to

18:08
sleep he's still going to put a tie on

18:10
that's my

18:11
that's the way i my i tell my employees

18:13
you're going to work here this is the

18:14
way it's going to be right dress to

18:16
success i want to be different

18:18
i want to be more professional when i

18:20
take people to my cellar or talk to them

18:22
about the wine i want them to have the

18:25
full confidence as these people know

18:26
what they're talking about yeah so and

18:29
and that's the reason i am who i am and

18:32
i love people i'm a people person yeah

18:34
uh all my life in retail for 28 years

18:37
i'm doing it in a different industry

18:39
uh

18:40
i like to interact with people get to

18:42
know them business aside you know

18:44
everybody does business you know you

18:46
know one way or the other everybody's

18:47
into different things but i love to

18:50
to know people and interact with them

18:53
and talk to them about their life this

18:55
and that and that takes you a different

18:57
level you know over a period of time

18:59
become a good friends and whatnot and

19:01
help each other in different ways so

19:03
that's the way i am and uh i'm not gonna

19:05
change myself and this is not an act you

19:08
know i am who i am this is going to get

19:10
it and uh

19:11
that's it you know yeah yeah no i love

19:13
it and i think that that's what we like

19:14
to to see because i mean everybody can

19:16
put on an act but that's not how you we

19:18
just talk about in the first segment

19:19
it's not how you build trust people can

19:20
smell people's bs majors are very finely

19:23
tuned these days exactly exactly and the

19:24
more you're putting on an act they can

19:26
definitely tell so um what about the

19:28
social media side of it like cause i

19:30
know like we were just mentioned before

19:31
too basically like every time i turn on

19:34
instagram or go on facebook or whatever

19:36
there's a reel or a tick-tock or

19:38
whatever if you guys doing something

19:40
here in the store or boomerang whatever

19:41
right so it was kind of like the thought

19:43
process behind putting together those

19:44
types of things so uh always the social

19:47
media was always in back of my mind and

19:50
always wanted to do it we started

19:51
something but i never had a

19:53
amazing partner till alex walks into my

19:56
life

19:57
and she's a game changer obviously so a

20:00
lot of kudos to her

20:01
and she's very creative and whatnot

20:04
so when we teamed up

20:06
as the main street vine center itinerary

20:08
with alex

20:09
uh it changes completely and then she

20:12
gives me a lot of good ideas and and i

20:15
give her the ideas which you know we

20:16
talk and whatnot

20:18
and it's not easy a lot of people think

20:20
this is easy i'm jumping on it but

20:22
it goes a lot behind and whatnot and

20:25
nowadays everything is about social

20:26
media right yeah uh listen there is a

20:28
lot of stores around me in my town uh

20:31
maybe bigger than i am and whatnot with

20:33
their bigger pockets

20:34
uh big change throws or whatever you

20:36
call it but

20:37
i wanted to be different

20:38
as i said prior i want to bring

20:41
different things to the table at the

20:42
same time

20:43
uh i want to help the community right so

20:46
we started this segment stay local

20:49
shop local because of the kovic

20:51
situation and whatnot i realized you

20:52
know what and i always been like that in

20:55
within my mall i was

20:57
talking to all the business owner hey

20:59
why can we get together and do something

21:02
that

21:04
people know that we are here yeah that

21:06
we are different and we are out there to

21:08
help community

21:09
uh bring them to our mall as a unit like

21:12
as an individual right it could be

21:14
italian village could be la rosa it

21:16
could be vegan palace could be a

21:18
japanese restaurant could be anything

21:20
but come at this mall as this is one big

21:23
family wanted to help the community and

21:25
at the same time we do business

21:27
obviously yeah so

21:28
all this thing came in place last year

21:31
and a half and whatnot and

21:33
i'm super excited it's going to a next

21:34
level uh while we're having fun at the

21:37
same time the helping community uh so we

21:39
go to uh different shops in madison it

21:42
could be toy shop or it could be

21:44
beauty salon or it could be restaurant

21:47
could be anything somehow try to pair up

21:49
with them and put them out

21:51
that hey they are here in madison we are

21:54
here in madison

21:55
come help the local store

21:58
amazon has a great stuff for whatever

22:01
big box store has yeah if you spend

22:03
money that's okay but help the local

22:05
people to grow and then they will grow

22:07
the community will be stronger and

22:09
better right so that's what we'll be

22:10
doing for last year and a half and we

22:12
are super excited that it's working for

22:13
all of us yeah no i love that yeah um

22:16
and i think also you know kind of as

22:17
we're going down that road too so we

22:19
talked about how you've been here for

22:20
almost 16 years now um so you kind of

22:22
become like almost establish yourself as

22:24
kind of a pillar of the the madison

22:26
community um so maybe but we're going to

22:28
get more into the community stuff in the

22:29
last segment but for this part i want to

22:31
know kind of since you've been here for

22:33
almost 16 years are there thoughts of

22:35
maybe like expanding or what does the

22:37
future look like for amrit and main

22:39
street wine cellars no i so obviously i

22:42
have this is always churning you know

22:44
yeah right yeah exactly i was in spain

22:46
uh

22:47
like two weeks ago and napa prior to

22:49
that one and he's very good friend of

22:50
mine uh eight of us none of us we travel

22:53
together so i'm by the way i'm a i'm a

22:55
head of uh a co-op group called new

22:58
jersey wine merchant i'm the president

23:00
of the group okay and we have uh 40

23:02
stores in the group and hence we travel

23:05
to argentina chile spain

23:08
napa to get one directly from the winery

23:11
so we have an edge over a big box store

23:14
and we have a little competition

23:16
but we can bring some quality wine for

23:18
cheaper price so that's what i do that

23:20
is my job and put all these guys

23:22
together under one umbrella called new

23:24
jersey wine merchant yep and uh and

23:26
that's what i do and and

23:29
put all this thing together

23:31
and that

23:33
took me to a next level what else could

23:35
i do and whatnot so i wanted to

23:38
definitely i want to do some kind of a

23:39
tapas food

23:41
restaurant yeah i've been to spain six

23:42
time and every time i go there and i get

23:45
excited about what they do over there i

23:46
want to bring that culture

23:48
to us not a i mean eventually it's a big

23:52
thing to bring the culture

23:53
but i want to do something like that uh

23:56
tapas food john where you can walk in

23:58
and you have a malaysian food and

24:00
italian food have a chinese

24:02
whatever the whole world

24:04
food in one

24:06
place under one roof with few bar in it

24:08
a cocktail bar a wine bar yeah a beer uh

24:12
uh thing which is a lot of tapia yeah

24:14
but you can get get under one umbrella

24:16
and try to have this tapas food there is

24:19
one thing that i want to do

24:20
obviously going to expand i have one

24:23
more shop in uh

24:24
verona uh one called verona wine cellar

24:27
and i want to expand and get into one

24:30
more or two more in 2022 okay uh to open

24:33
another wine cellar yeah uh where the

24:36
opportunity comes along yeah yeah is

24:38
that tough kind of being like spread out

24:39
like that and like you know it's very

24:41
tough i mean like this place i mean

24:43
every time i've ever been in here you've

24:44
been in here yeah and you're just

24:45
basically like running the show here and

24:47
i know you got good people right um but

24:49
is all that is that also difficult

24:50
because it's very difficult that's the

24:52
reason you have to hold back and make

24:53
sure uh that everything is up and

24:55
running and smooth in this location yeah

24:58
and the customer service it's my highest

25:01
priority and i take a priority in that

25:03
one so i gotta make sure if i'm gonna go

25:05
to a different location that here i

25:07
still have my full attention and the

25:09
people who's running this joint

25:12
they are understand the requirement what

25:14
i i need from them yeah to bring that

25:17
customer service to

25:19
to the customers are going to walk in

25:21
here so yeah that's a tough part and the

25:23
help is an issue nowadays of course yeah

25:25
throughout yeah does not matter we run

25:26
across

25:29
yeah but listen you you manage it that's

25:32
the reason these people have 510 or

25:34
there is a change to us you know yeah uh

25:37
so

25:38
we'll i'll figure it out and make sure

25:39
that i'm sure i

25:41
get to it i want it to be yeah yeah

25:43
awesome awesome all right so we're going

25:44
to take our second break our last break

25:46
of this episode uh we're here at main

25:47
street wine cellars in madison new

25:49
jersey with omrish fakil i'm mike ham

25:51
this is the greetings from the garden

25:52
state podcast we'll be right back

25:55
it is time for your new jersey fun fact

25:56
of the day did you know that new

25:58
jersey's state dance is square dancing

26:02
and that is your new jersey fun fact of

26:04
the day

26:06
what's up everybody we're back this is

26:08
the greetings from the garden state

26:09
podcast i'm mike mike ham we're here in

26:11
madison new jersey at main street wine

26:13
cellars with amrit fakil uh so amish in

26:15
the first segment we talked about your

26:17
background the background of the

26:17
business kind of how you've immersed

26:19
yourself in the life of what you do here

26:22
at main street wine cellars in the

26:23
second segment we kind of talked about

26:24
the personality the social media side

26:26
maybe the future of what you have going

26:28
on here

26:29
but in our third segment of this show we

26:31
always like to kind of tie it back into

26:33
the community

26:34
so this is a podcast that's focused on

26:36
stuff that happens here in new jersey

26:38
the people the businesses that make the

26:39
show great are the state great um so

26:42
talk to us a little bit about maybe

26:43
because we talked about the state local

26:44
shop local um i hope i said that in the

26:47
right order um but uh talk to us a

26:49
little bit about kind of your

26:50
involvement in the community and kind of

26:52
maybe how it started and kind of how

26:54
it's evolved over time right right so

26:56
obviously i'm in in in i'm so lucky that

27:00
i'm in this town obviously madison and

27:02
chatham plural park those are the

27:04
surrounding town and whatnot and they've

27:06
been tremendous to me from the get-go

27:09
uh and

27:11
they helped me where i am today

27:13
obviously you know and a lot of so

27:15
listen

27:16
it's a two-way street if the community

27:18
is good to you you gotta give it back to

27:20
the community yeah no matter what so i

27:23
am very heavily involved from the day

27:25
one i i came into the sun i was like i

27:27
have to give back to the community and

27:30
when i came to istanbul my pockets were

27:31
in this big to do things to compete

27:34
against battle king of the world or

27:36
the big change shows or whatever we call

27:38
it i was like how could i get back into

27:40
the community give them and then

27:42
flourish my business at the same time

27:44
and so i did uh so saint hubert animal

27:47
welfare center is one of the biggest

27:48
animal welfare center out there in state

27:50
of new jersey i'm big partner with them

27:52
okay i must say raise

27:55
i would say

27:56
hundreds of thousand dollars with them

27:58
because

27:58
we've been doing for last good

28:01
13 to 14 years my annual portfolio

28:04
tastings between hubert animal welfare

28:06
center and all the proceeds goes to them

28:08
unfortunately because of covet last year

28:11
we could not do it but till then we were

28:13
doing it

28:14
strongly with them madison education

28:17
foundation

28:18
chatham education foundation florian

28:20
park education education foundation i'm

28:22
heavily involved with them if anybody

28:24
comes and knocks my door i'm out there

28:27
to do in-home tastings charity events

28:30
whatever you need for their hockey team

28:31
or baseball team

28:33
i'm out there to help them and i'm doing

28:35
it i

28:37
i did it

28:38
15 years ago 12 years ago 10 years ago

28:40
and i'm not stopping it i'm going to

28:42
still keep doing it for for cancer

28:45
research or whatever the case may be

28:47
anything to help community a local

28:50
church comes and say hey can you do

28:51
something to raise money i'm out there

28:53
you want to do can you donate a

28:56
wine basket a gift basket i'm out there

28:58
yeah on 12th of november i'm doing for

29:00
florum park education foundation beer

29:02
and bourbon tasting a virtual tastings

29:05
and i'm doing that and i'm going to do a

29:07
lot of giveaway that we can raise money

29:09
somebody just approached from lafayette

29:11
school uh for november and december for

29:14
milton school in chatham i'm doing it

29:16
like uh not a tasting but i'm gonna

29:18
donate if somebody comes and spend uh

29:21
whatever money they spend i'll give five

29:22
to ten percent of the proceeds to the

29:24
school yeah so that's going on right now

29:27
so listen if anybody comes and knock at

29:30
my door and say

29:31
something for community i'm out there

29:33
come on down i'll help you with two open

29:36
hands my wallet is open whatever i can

29:38
do i will help out yeah no i love that

29:40
and that's what i mean i'm a firm

29:42
believer um you know in stuff my

29:45
business and kind of what i do and then

29:46
with this that the more goods you put

29:48
out into the world yeah eventually like

29:50
that good comes back and that's not

29:51
always why you do it right but it's just

29:54
kind of like you start to vibe with the

29:56
people that put out the same vibe as you

29:57
yeah if you're doing good things good

29:59
things will happen to you and i think

30:00
that that's this is the case

30:02
i'm sure your parents and our my parents

30:04
taught us when we literally go to church

30:06
you go to temple

30:08
you do good to people they will be good

30:10
to you yeah it's a simple motto it has

30:12
unchanged it's not going to change some

30:15
people does not believe in it

30:16
i believe in that yeah circle of life as

30:19
they call of course you know yeah you

30:20
give it back you you'll get back it's

30:23
not and at the same time i if i do

30:25
certain things good to them if i don't

30:27
get it back it's okay yeah yeah right

30:29
yeah so i've done

30:30
so many charity event and sometime i'm

30:32
disappointed that you know you spent all

30:35
this time energy and money and there was

30:37
300 people and the result was zero like

30:40
yeah i sold two cases of wine and i

30:42
would come back and my guys would tell

30:44
me hey all these things and no results

30:47
listen andy that's okay yeah you know

30:49
sometimes it's not always immediate

30:51
either exactly you know not immediate

30:52
and it's okay you know yeah you did your

30:54
part

30:55
god will is saying all these things yeah

30:58
eventually we come back to you so

31:00
i i firmly believe in that one that's

31:02
the way my parent taught me yeah and i'm

31:04
gonna stick to it and keep doing it till

31:07
i can do it yeah and i think that that's

31:08
also just a great point because i think

31:10
that like you know people that you're

31:13
building those trust with you mention

31:14
like doing in-home tastings like kind of

31:16
going thinking outside the box to

31:18
develop those relationships and that

31:19
trust so while they may not want to buy

31:22
something like right then and there

31:23
right they'll be like you'll be top of

31:25
mind for the next time yeah i mean i

31:26
think that that's really kind of what

31:28
comes down to like you're developing

31:29
those relationships yes you're

31:30
developing that trust no and that's

31:32
organically exactly yeah that's i grew

31:34
my business organically i went to a

31:36
knock on the doors and whatnot and then

31:38
any charity came in i'll come to your

31:39
home i'll do a tasting and that's my

31:41
forte

31:42
that's the way i do it i just did it in

31:44
in chatham last week i did the first

31:46
japanese single more scotch and sake and

31:49
there are bhachi food over there and

31:51
that's

31:51
and i'm still doing it so i that's i

31:53
think our outside of the box and do

31:55
something different a daddy maddie

31:57
barbecue so a lot of people aren't doing

31:59
it but i love it yeah and um i i did it

32:02
in past and i'm still doing it so i i br

32:04
i bring different

32:06
stuff to the table than your average

32:08
wine stores or liquor stores and whatnot

32:10
yeah and i love it i love it no i love

32:12
it i think it's great absolutely and

32:14
then the

32:14
stay local shop local

32:16
that's something that you're

32:18
going to continue to do that's not just

32:20
like a little no no

32:22
no it wasn't okay the

32:24
inspiration sure came through

32:26
you know everybody's life changed

32:28
pandemic you know i mean the whole world

32:31
crying out a lot changed because of

32:32
pandemic but you learn from them right

32:34
we were with a few fortunate one that

32:37
our business thrives at that right uh

32:39
that time so i was like you know what

32:41
much to my liver's sugar i guess

32:44
but so that being said i was like you

32:45
know what then i was like if i'm doing

32:48
good and other people are suffering uh

32:50
how could i give back to them yeah so

32:52
and then we started saying let's go to

32:54
local stores which some of them are shut

32:56
down the restaurant is not open

32:58
or people aren't going there let's go

33:00
out there and talk to them and bring

33:02
them to front and let's show whatever

33:04
followers that i have or people

33:07
that we can bring those

33:09
that these people are there they are

33:11
struggling let's help them and uh it

33:13
kind of worked for us so i'm going to

33:15
take you to the next level my

33:17
i'm going to stay to just chatham and

33:19
madison florian park east center or

33:21
whatever the case may be just anybody

33:23
there i could help it could be any kind

33:25
of business

33:26
i'm there i'm gonna still continue doing

33:28
doing that and we went to east central

33:30
with alex yeah she came up with this

33:31
crazy idea of the bowling uh

33:34
big lebowski the movie that it's all

33:36
right yeah so yeah so it doesn't matter

33:39
what town but if i can help anybody

33:42
i will um i'll go ahead and do it keep

33:44
doing it and yeah absolutely why not

33:47
right

33:48
yeah no i love it all right so let's hit

33:50
them with the address if they're like

33:51
they're driving around listening to this

33:53
episode like hey let me put this in the

33:54
gps let me head down there what's the

33:55
address of the story so so i always

33:57
there's a challenge that i have because

33:59
i'm like kind of tucked in right a

34:00
little nook over here yeah so i'm at 300

34:03
main street madison new jersey madison

34:06
plaza it's in staples mall i know it's a

34:09
little bit knocked in but at the corner

34:11
unit 7a so 300 main street madison new

34:14
jersey in staples mall unit 7a main

34:17
street wine cellar and then what's the

34:19
website social media handles

34:21
uh main street wine cellars with s at

34:25
the end

34:26
at gmail.com

34:29
uh um

34:30
mainstreetwineservice.com

34:35
yeah

34:36
and uh there's a lot of pressure yeah

34:38
yeah right uh and then the instagram is

34:40
that mainstream

34:41
mind seller okay no s no s

34:44
no s so it's complicated the uh

34:47
when we did the website and whatnot it

34:48
was kind of gone so i had to add an s

34:51
uh so you know how it works of course

34:53
yeah right

34:55
it's the you know the back and forth so

34:56
it is a lot of people uh my personal

34:59
facebook is amarish vakil but then it's

35:01
tied up to main street wine cellar

35:02
because when i started all these things

35:04
people were following me and then we

35:06
tied up together thanks to alex so it is

35:09
mainstreetwinesellers.com

35:12
and instagram is main street wine cellar

35:14
yeah i love it yeah and like i said like

35:16
i said

35:17
there is an s

35:19
on the instagram okay on the instagram

35:20
there is

35:22
mainstream wine cellars across the board

35:24
um website instagram handle all good

35:27
yeah um yeah so if you're in the area if

35:29
you're close by i mean i live in

35:30
morristown i've come down here and

35:32
picked up some stuff i will be taking

35:33
some stuff with me as i go um so make

35:35
sure you stop in uh so amish thank you

35:38
so much for having us uh here in your

35:39
place today love it got a great

35:41
selection of pretty much anything you

35:43
could possibly think of in here i'm

35:44
looking around they got they got it all

35:46
right you got it all that no yeah so i

35:48
really appreciate you having me on no

35:49
thank you so much yeah thank you so much

35:51
for doing this and whatnot and hopefully

35:53
the message is out there yeah and

35:54
there's one last thing i want to say

35:56
that if you're driving around and i'm

35:58
not a greedy guy there's a big pie out

36:00
there i want a little piece of it you

36:02
want to go to my neighbor gary's bottle

36:05
king wine library so bait but at the end

36:08
of the day one day come and spend ten

36:10
dollars i'll be happy with it right just

36:12
the experience xp experience

36:15
exactly yeah exactly i love it i love it

36:17
uh so make sure we put the address the

36:19
actual website the social media handles

36:21
in the show notes along with greetings

36:23
from thegardenstate.com uh so amish

36:25
again thank you so much for coming or

36:27
coming on the show with us today and

36:28
everybody listening thank you so much

36:29
for listening and we will catch you next

36:31
time

36:39
[Music]

36:39
[Applause]

36:41
[Music]

36:47
[Music]

37:05
you