Capital Spirits
68 Pratt Street
Hartford, CT 06103

Square footage: 4,500

Years in operation: 11 years

By Sara Capozzi

Tucked away on Hartford’s walkable Pratt Street, Capital Spirits has become a unique destination shop for locals and guests downtown. Owned by business partners Prianca Chellani and Rishi Sachdeva, the shop has been managed daily by Director of Operations Karen Rokosa since May 2021. The store had been located across the street for about six years before moving to 68 Pratt Street in Aug. 2021, quadrupling its retail space. The current 4,500-square-foot location, originally a jewelry store, features large picture windows that let in plenty of natural light and high ceilings.

“Coming over here, we were able to have a much nicer layout, a completely different look; it’s much brighter,” Rokosa said. “We were able to dramatically increase the number and variety of products that we have for people, which is great.”

The store carries a well-rounded selection of more than 5,000 SKUs of beer, wine, and spirits to appeal to its broad customer base, bringing in both regulars who live downtown and visitors drawn by the area’s many events.

“We try to carry a little bit of everything here because our clientele is literally everyone,” Rokosa said. “Anyone you can possibly think of could walk in the door at any time. Because of our location, we are everyone’s neighborhood package store that lives downtown, but we’re also catering to people who come into the city for events, people buying gifts from some of the large companies … so you kind of need everything – it’s trying to find a balance of having something for everyone all the time.”

Capital Spirits’ layout offers plenty of room for a wide array of spirits and liqueurs neatly categorized on shelving in the center of the store. There are also various bitters, mixers, and syrups for home cocktail enthusiasts. A large selection of wines spans a variety of price points, from big-name brands to boutique bottles, with organic options showcased at the front of the shop in wooden bins. Additional bottles are stacked floor to ceiling on shelving that wraps around the sides and back of the sales floor, while cooler space keeps beer and seltzers chilled.

According to Rokosa, customer tastes fluctuate with the seasons. In the summer, the store’s most popular items are beer, seltzers, THC seltzers, and ready-to-drink cocktails. Shoppers also tend to gravitate toward white wines, rosés, and orange wines in the warmer months. Guests are often in search of quality wines with a screw top, convenient for those staying in nearby hotels or having a picnic in Bushnell Park. While year-round events bring people to the door, the shop sees increased foot traffic in the warmer months with outdoor events on Pratt Street, as well as festivals and games at the nearby People’s Bank Arena and Yard Goats Stadium.

Capital Spirits’ inviting atmosphere and its staff’s relationships with its customer base set it apart.

“Customer service is always at the forefront of how we want to stand out, especially me coming from the restaurant industry,” Rokosa said. “People should be greeted when they walk in, just being there and accessible, it’s not something I always see in retail so it’s something that’s really important to me that everyone [working here] has a base knowledge to be able to help guide people to make a choice, whether it’s pairing a wine with dinner or making cocktails.”

Rokosa and her team enjoy making shopping a fun and engaging experience by hosting weekly in-store tastings and monthly cocktail classes. Most importantly, Rokosa wants shoppers to know they don’t need a specific reason to visit.

“I feel like people are always saying, I need to come in and see the store,” Rokosa said. “There doesn’t have to be a reason, you don’t have to come in with a purpose. If you stop by one of the Pratt Street events, pop in and say hi. Or check out a cocktail class or any of the tastings we have going on. We just try to be welcoming and we enjoy getting to know everybody and being their neighborhood spot.”