Total Wine & More liquor superstore to open in Nora

Liquor superstore chain Total Wine & More is set to open its first Indiana store Nov. 4 in the Nora Corners Shopping Center at 1460 E. 86^th St.

The store will occupy just over 26,000 square feet in a portion of what was formerly a Marsh supermarket. An Aldi grocery store occupies the other portion of the space.

Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Total Wine & More operates 212 stores on the East Coast, the Midwest and Western U.S. The Nora location is a typical size for the chain, whose stores carry between 8,000 and 10,000 types of wine as well as 3,000 to 4,000 types of both beer and spirits. The stores also carry a selection of cigars, glassware, gifts, food and other items.

As is standard for the chain, the Nora store will also include beer and wine tasting areas, a cigar humidor and a room for customer classes and events, including tasting sessions led by well-known beer, wine and spirits producers via live video.

Total Wine & More also makes the classroom available at no cost to community groups that need a meeting space.

“We’re not the corner liquor store,” said Edward Cooper, vice president of public affairs and community relations for Total Wine & More. “For us, it’s all about a customer experience.”

When the Nora store opens, Indiana will become the 26^th state in which Total Wine & More operates. The company doesn’t have firm plans to open additional Indiana stores, Cooper said, but it is “looking for opportunities” and “potentially there will be others.”

Total Wine & More got its start in 1991 when brothers David and Robert Trone opened a 1,000-square-foot package store in Delaware. The brothers, who still own the company, expanded over time to other East Coast states, later branching out to the Midwest and West.

Because of its out-of-state ownership, Total Wine & More had to sue the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission in order to win the right to open a store here.

The commission denied Total Wine & More’s liquor permit application in March, citing a state law that it said prohibited it from issuing a retail permit to any company unless at least 60% of the company’s common stock is owned by people who have lived in Indiana for five years.

Total Wine & More sued the commission days later in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, saying that the permit denial violated the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.

The case was resolved in July when Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled in the retailer’s favor.

In other news this week:

— Downtown Indy Inc. and the Arts Council of Indianapolis will present the season’s final Downtown Arts Market from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 15 on Monument Circle. The event includes more than 20 vendors offering handmade masks, jewelry, home décor, paintings, ceramics, clothing and other items. It also includes a beer and wine garden.

— The Mexican restaurant Nada, at 11 W. Maryland St., reopened Sept. 30 for dinner-only service. The restaurant had been closed since mid-March because of the pandemic. Current hours are 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A restaurant representative told IBJ that Nada will wait to see what business is like before deciding whether to add back its lunch service. Nada also operatesin the Ohio cities of Cincinnati and Columbus and in Nashville, Tennessee and North Bethesda, Maryland.