Damn..will miss this place. One of the more unique wine offerings in the state. Thanks Fortnight crew for 6 great years!

was hoping this was about the video game till I saw what sub it was in

Another fav spot of mine. The same week as Cellar Stories too. What a bummer.

Other than Eddy and Falldowney's there's no downtown bars I enjoy going to. Blakes is fine for convenience and I like the staff and food at Murphy's but they both get kinda sad in there.

That’s a shame! Great little spot and always felt nice to support a coop.

Sounds like they’re ready to move on, so I wish them the best.

I kinda figured something was up when they moved locations.

I only found out about this place a few weeks ago. What a shame, but I’ll for sure be there as much as my wallet can spare between now and NYE.

NOOO!!! This is my favorite bar!! 😭😭😭

Remember the time when one of the co-owners was caught stealing wine from Bottles, so they went back in the security footage and discovered they were routinely stealing wine to sell in the bar.

This should come as no surprise. The lesson to be learned here is that business and politics don't mix well. When you alienate 50% of your potential customers, it's a recipe for failure.

Holy shit, what?

Damn! Love that place

Chick-fil-A is thriving. Patagonia is doing great. People seem to love that Black Rifle Coffee.

Source?

Yes, Chick-fil-A is thriving but I'd argue that they would be 2X thriving. I mean, half the country boycotts them.

I'm kind of surprised they've been allowed to stay open. The business license was revoked by the State 10+ months ago for Berri/Fortnight and I can't find anything showing either of them having a valid liquor license.

And where would Taylor Swift be today if she hadn't kept silent about her political views when she started in Nashville?

I really wanted to like this place but both times I went there I found the staff to be unpleasant. The first time I was asking the bartender some questions about the wine (they serve a lot of unique and interesting wines) and they acted so annoyed I was asking him anything. Second time the staff decided to be snarky and make fun of me to each other because I pronounced something wrong.

I’d like to add the beer and wine list here were in fact fantastic and I did like the atmosphere. Staff just not so much.

Too bad one of the owners who is louder than anyone in Providence about his left-wing politics couldn't keep his hands off of the customers and drove the bar into the ground as a result. An open secret in most of the community. Expect details about this to emerge in the coming weeks/months. Or maybe they won't and he'll just keep doing it, as is usually the case.

I’m not surprised. The owners don’t appear to be the brightest bulbs.

https://www.golocalprov.com/news/NEW-Owner-of-Providence-Wine-Bar-Fortnight-Arrested-for-Spray-Painting

Similar experience unfortunately. Gave it a couple shots. One time the bartender was so absorbed in what record he was going to play next he ignored us for like 10 minutes so we just shrugged and went to give somewhere else our money. I really wanted to like it too cuz I love trying fun wines but oh well…

when / where did they move?

Awesome place. Huge loss.

Rumor is they’ve had issues with staff members engaging in sexual assault/sexual harassment and disagreements about firing those ppl. Wanting to present as super progressive but sadly seem to not mind sketchy male workers assaulting ppl : /

Your math is off though, cause the majority of Americans don't follow politics/news or vote. So it's more like 25% of the people disagree with them and would boycott them, IF they knew anything about them, but I'm sure a good percentage of that 25% don't even know Chick-fil-A's political stance.

Have you tried the Dean? I think the Eddy is better but it's a good replacement (when they actually have the ingredients they need on hand....).

You're speculating.

Mostly unfriendly staff (and one nice dude), but I liked the beer list, appetizers and ambiance, so I'd order my beer, sit alone, and kill a pleasant hour or two there.

They used to be on Dorrence St. They closed, then sometime later announced that they were somehow partnering with a place called Berri. But it seems they took over the entire operation.

Wow almost same thing here

Not any more than you were.

The bottom line is...

Politically, the nation is divided roughly 50/50.

Any business that expresses strong political views is stupid.

You know why Curt Schilling isn't in the Hall of Fame? It's not because he wasn't good enough. And it's not because he screwed the State of RI with his video game company. It's because you need 75% of the vote to get in, and that's not happening when you shoot your mouth off about politics.

Someone on r/rhodeisland said they’re closing because of sexual assault allegations against one of the owners. They didn’t supply any details, but maybe check over there.

Well, I guess that is probably true from a B-school point of view. Unlimited growth is the goal. And any money left on the table = failure. In the case of a company like Patagonia, maybe more conservatives would buy their stuff if they kept quiet about climate change or Bears Ears National Monument. But clearly they made the decision that the loss of potential revenue was worth it. Then again, maybe they made the calculation that not that many conservatives shop there in the first place (preferring Cabela's or whatever), so being vocal about environmental causes would increase loyalty among an already left-leaning customer base. This would actually be interesting stuff for a case-study - do you try to capture the entire market? Or do you focus on a very enthusiastic sector of the market? I think either could be successful, depending on the business.

Niche marketplaces have always existed. Politics isn’t the only thing that can cut out potential customers.

Point blank Sephora sells nothing to half the population and seems to be fine.

Strip Clubs provide services that cater to only a portion of the population by design as well. Many people don’t like their business at all. They’re doing fine.

The Vegan restaurant up the street only has vegan food so anyone who doesn’t like that is cut out… they’re fine.

That said even politics don’t seem to have that much of an effect. Home Depot is a huge supporter of Trump and the election deniers, and they seem to be doing fine.

Really seems like the lesson learned here is that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Around late 2016/early 2017 iirc. My partner at the time was working at Bottles when it occurred. Apparently the other owners were unaware it was happening. They worked out an agreement to pay for the stolen wine over time. As far as I know no charges were pressed. There were some Facebook posts about it at the time. I searched for about a half hour but can't find them (FB search sucks).

Anyone who worked at Bottles should be able to collaborate.

What a dumb take.

>Really seems like the lesson learned here is that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Strip clubs and vegan restaurants are no different than wine bars or fast food chicken sandwich restaurants. All of them only appeal to a portion of the population.

If the business owners at any of those places make strong political statements, they cut their customer base in half.

This isn't difficult to understand.

The point you’re missing is that they already cut out a lot of people from their business and a business cutting people out for politics is not different than any other niche.

That’s because it’s not different. Don’t confuse the hypothetical negative effects of exclusion in business with the positive effects of focus.

Home Depot is essential and doesn't really have competition. Very poor example.

Hah Home Depot is a broad duopoly and a right wing donor for its whole existence. They’ve done very well. It’s a great example. Hobby Lobby does well too.

So does Patagonia.

Again, you’re talking out your ass. You keep going you’re going to run out of toilet paper.

No business appeals to everyone. Why would anyone in their right mind choose to alienate half of their potential customers that their business does appeal to? It makes no sense.

All of these places could be doing better without the politics.

Again, this isn't difficult to understand.

You think it’s easy to understand specifically because you do not.

Their niche is specialty wine, and not boomer napa cab. That already is not going to appeal to a conservative customer base, so at worst it's alienating something like 20% of their possible consumer base, but I doubt that.

The firearms business is a good example of a business where talking about politics will do nothing but help your business.

I don't think you understand wine demographics.

And what if a democrat wants to buy a gun?

2 gun shops. 1 with extreme political signage and the other without. Where's the democrat shopping?

Let me ask you, Espeeste, why do you think this wine bar failed?

Do you think maybe it's because they didn't have enough customers to keep the doors open? If so, do you think maybe alienating people at least contributed to that? This isn't rocket science.

Or are you going to tell me that the wine bar didn't fail and they just closed because they want to spend more time with their families? And maybe import Sake? That sounds familiar.

If the owner puts up, say, a “Let‘s go Brandon” sign, it may turn off said Democrat, but if 3 Republicans for that one Dem (or even 2 for 1) see the sign, think “Hell yeah, brotha!”, and choose to stop by, then it’s a calculated risk that pays off in business

Wasn’t one of the owners (Mike?) accused of sexual misconduct or assault? Good riddance if true tbh.

Fantastic place, wine and staff! Will be missed!

I’m not sure customers were drove off. It’s liquor license renewal season and they’ve been operating without a proper business license for months now. It’s weird that getting a letter from the Secretary of State saying “you’re not allowed to do business in Rhode Island” wouldn’t have closed them in February, but it’d definitely stop the city from re-upping their license for 2023.

Source?

Not gonna lie I read this as Fortnite the video game at first and was really confused haha