Amazing Grapes’ Jason Galpin, Owner
Manish Modi and Candice Garrick.

Amazing Grapes
687 W Main Street
New Britain, CT

Square footage: 14,000

Years in operation: 2 years

By Sara Capozzi

Opened in 2023, New Britain’s Amazing Grapes Wines & Spirits is the latest retail location to join the Amazing Grapes family of stores in Connecticut.

Owner Manish Modi opened the first location in Waterford in 2019 and added to his stores in quick succession, purchasing the Norwich location in 2021 and a store in Mansfield in 2022, finally adding both the Simsbury and New Britain locations in 2023.

Modi credits his success to his qualified teams at each location. “I’ve been lucky to have really experienced staff around me,” he said. “All of my managers have been in the industry for more than 30 years at all the locations and that helps a lot. They’re all women and they’re all great at their jobs and they’re all working better than men.”

He also appreciates that Connecticut’s three-tier system helps to protect small business owners. “I think it’s the ideal model in the country,” Modi said. “With the min. [minimum] bottle, the small guys get equal protection as the big guys and everybody can sell at the same price and still be profitable. Also, in the industry, we’re all part of a community and we get a lot of support and guidance from our salespeople and the wholesalers about the trends and what sells and what doesn’t sell.”

At the New Britain store’s entrance, a sign calls out “17,000 reasons to shop,” referencing the store’s 17,000 products stocked within its warehouse-like interior. Amazing Grapes carries a wide array of products to suit broad customer tastes with specializations tailored to each store’s clientele.

“All the demographics at each store are different,” Modi said. “[In New Britain] we have more Polish and Spanish clientele; and we have a huge selection of all the Polish liquors and vodkas and wine. I think I have the biggest selection of Polish products in the state because New Britain has the largest density of Polish people in the whole country.”

The store also specializes in single barrel whiskey selections, selected by Amazing Grapes’ wine managers and bottled at top distilleries in the country. Customer perks include in-store tastings on weekends and ordering and delivery services through its website amazinggrapesct.com. And Modi is currently working to develop a private label of Amazing Grapes-branded wines for shoppers, which could be available later this year.

Modi imparts his vision for customer service with his employee teams at each store. “We try to sell what the customer wants to buy … We try to let them decide what they want to purchase and don’t pressure them like big chains who have people working on commission. My people don’t work on commission. We just want to be different and focus on customers’ best interests.”