April 2007 Cover Story: Retail Tales

The stories of Oregon wine retailers are as diverse as the wine on their shelves

by Hilary Berg

LINER & ELSEN, WINE MERCHANTS

In 1998, Matthew Elsen and Bob Liner left some large shoes to fill when they sold their legendary Northwest Portland wine shop, Liner & Elsen Wine Merchants.

With their years of expertise behind them, the two decided to create a new entity, Galaxy Wine Company, and try their hand at importing and distributing wine. So they placed an ad, gathered offers and settled on one lucky bidder—Bob and Renee Scherb.

Bob Scherb, formerly a family therapist and clinical supervisor from New York City, never intended to move to Oregon and buy a wine shop, but when he saw the ad, it caught his eye.

He knew the famed wine shop would present a serious commitment, but he was ready for the challenge. And he received plenty of challenges, especially when a Portland newspaper incorrectly reported that Liner & Elsen had closed their doors permanently, never to reopen again.

Despite that little blip in the road, along with others—including run-ins with a few Burnside denizens—the shop hasn’t missed a beat. Customers still stream in to peruse the deep and focused selections from all over the world.

Now Scherb is taking his success one step further by moving the entire store to a new space at the corner of N.W. Quimby Street and 22nd Avenue.

The new space retains much of the charm of the old locale, using the same organizational shelving, but it has almost doubled its capacity in terms of square feet. Now there is more room for tastings and events.

 “We were not looking to be a real fancy, upscale place, in fact that is the last thing we wanted to do,” Scherb explained. “We wanted a real user-friendly wine store.”

The larger sales space will allow for a walk-in cold room for specialty wines, as well as expansion of wine inventory, Internet sales, estate olive oils and specialty food products.

Don’t let the varied merchandise fool you, this is a serious wine shop.

Gourmet Magazine labeled Liner & Elsen as “Portland’s Premier Wine Shop” and Bon Appetit labeled it as “the city’s most comprehensive wine shop by hard-core oenophiles” in the 2005 April issue.

Despite these accolades, Scherb remains humbled by the business he entered almost a decade ago.

“I love the wine business,” he said. “You meet great people and it is challenging.

“It has enabled us to extend our travels that we wouldn’t have been able to do in the past. It has enlivened and enriched our lives in ways that we really couldn’t have imagined.” ◊