A Thousand Wines and a Sigh of Relief

Whole Foods learned the hard way that opening a wine store in New York is not easy. The wine shop at its market in the Time Warner Center was closed by the state liquor authority because the shop was deemed part of the supermarket; state law bans selling wine in food stores. Then Whole Foods’s license request for a wine shop near its store in the Bowery was denied because of community opposition. But the company succeeded in starting a wine store in the same building as its newest store on the Upper West Side: it opened on Aug. 24, and the supermarket will open on Aug. 27.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND There are about 1,000 wines on the shelves, with a good number from New York State. About a third of the wines sell for less than $10 a bottle.