K&L Wine Merchants, known for its wide-ranging selection of thousands of wines and spirits, is planning to make a big move this fall, departing its 638 4th St. location to take over the former TJMaxx space at 855 Harrison St., between 4th and 5th streets.
K&L's current building is being torn down, along with others on the block, for a 350-foot, primarily residential tower with 427 units and ground-floor commercial space. But even before the tower was announced, K&L was planning to move, because it needed a larger space.
"We’d sort of outgrown the store we were in on 4th, and we didn’t have any visibility," said K&L's Brian Zucker, who co-owns the store with Todd Zucker, Clyde Beffa and Trey Beffa. K&L does much of its volume in in-store pick-up from online sales, he said, which means they need more storage capacity.
K&L will expand from 7,000 square feet to nearly 25,000 square feet when it moves into the building formerly occupied by TJMaxx, which vacated on February 1st. The new shop will be about an eight-minute walk from the current one. "We love that shop and we love that neighborhood, [so] we’re glad we’re not going too far," said Zucker.
Photo: Desiree P./Yelp
The move will not only give K&L more storage and sales floor space, but will allow them to add an "old and rare" wine room and a nicer bar for their wine tasting events. “We’d really like this to be a top destination for visiting winemakers and industry people,” Zucker said. "We’re trying to make it the premier fine wine and spirits destination in the state.”
The new space will also feature rentable temperature-controlled storage lockers, which are currently in high demand. K&L was forced to phase lockers out of their current location about 10 years ago to reclaim space, Zucker said. "For people who have large collections, it can be difficult to have the space in their residence to store this stuff properly." Each locker will store roughly 25 cases of wine. The store also buys rare wines from collectors and re-sells them, with offerings ranging from premier cru Bordeaux to small-batch Sonoma pinot noir.
K&L was founded in Millbrae in 1976. Its original location is no longer in operation, but it still has outposts in Redwood City (since 1978) and Hollywood. The three locations boast more than 100 employees, including buyers for regions and categories who are well-versed in their specialties. "They travel and buy direct from the winery whenever possible," Zucker said, "so we're able to cut down on the markups that traditionally go to wholesalers and importers."
