ROCHESTER — Bob Schmidt and his dogs are holding a “Going Out Business” sale at Woody’s Schnappsafter he handed over the store’s off-sale license to Total Wine & More.
Schmidt, who owns the popular Rochester liquor store at 316 Elton Hills Drive NW in Valhalla center Shopping center since 2022, selling its inventory with 20% off wine and spirits. It expects to close the doors for good on September 14.
Although Woody’s is busy and had planned to run the store for another three years, Schmidt received an offer he couldn’t refuse. Schmidt did not reveal how much Total Wine offered for the license.
“Business was going pretty well. And then they (Total Wine) just came along and said, ‘We’d like to give you the opportunity to get out of the liquor business,'” Schmidt said. “And they obviously gave me a pretty good option. Otherwise I’d still be in the liquor business.”
Total Wine, the largest alcohol retailer in the United States, is building a new store in Rochester at 40 25th St. SE. The 2,800 square-foot space in the Broadway Commons shopping center has been
Bed, Bath & Beyond will close in early 2023. While construction crews work on the space, Total Wine has not yet announced a timeline for opening.
The City of Rochester allows a maximum of 26 liquor licenses. Deputy City Clerk Christiaan Cartwright says all 26 licenses have been awarded. This means the only way to get a new alcohol sales license is to buy it from an existing store in Rochester.
Schmidt and his English Springer Spaniel dogs Dolly (Dolcetto) and Champ (Champagne) will close the store but plan to remain involved in the local liquor business.
“I’m going to help out one of the local cocktail mixologists, Pooches and Palomas.
Dani White is great. She even made me a cocktail that she calls Springer because she names all her concoctions after dogs and I have Springer,” he said. “She makes an incredible cocktail.”
Schmidt bought Woody’s from Ed Campbellwhich owned it from 2019 to 2022. Larry Wood launched this incarnation of Woody’s in 2009. Wood previously had a Woody’s Liquor store in the same commercial, but closed it in 2001.
