trend with Wine Down Wednesdays
OK, I’ve mentioned the horrible plight of downtown restaurants that are struggling to hold on in a scary economic climate. Walk into one of the Church Street Station venues on a weeknight and listen to the crickets. A tumbleweed or two might roll across the road.
So how do you explain the crazy-big crowd at Urban Flats on the corner of Church Street and Orange Avenue most Wednesdays?
Easy: Wine Down Wednesday.
“We own downtown on Wednesday nights,” manager Adam Williams told me. And this is why: for $20 you get all the “light bites” you can eat and all the wine you can drink. You wouldn’t be able to have a flatbread appetizer and a glass of decent wine in any restaurant for under 20 bucks. And, says Williams, he offers about 14 wines as part of the deal and “quite a bit of food.”
Is there a catch? The only one I can figure is that the deal is offered only to the first 100 people to show up and purchase a wrist band. And it starts at 5 p.m. each Wednesday, so if you don’t show up early you may get shut out.
Hmmm, I’m thinking if I worked downtown, I’d get there at 5 o’clock, buy a couple of wristbands, go home, change into something comfortable, pick up the significant other and go downtown for a really cheap dinner.
But kudos to Williams and the Urban Flats team for finding a way to attract crowds, especially in this economic climate. Anyone else have a bright idea?
