Postino owners eye additional locations, new concepts
The partners who own Postino Winecafe Central in Phoenix are preparing to open a restaurant and ice cream shop across the street called the Windsor and Churn.
Husband-and-wife teams Craig and Kris DeMarco and Lauren and Wyatt Bailey are parlaying their success at Postino to create a couple of completely different concepts. They’ll be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with a vintage 1940s feel at the Windsor, while Churn will be an ice cream, pastry and coffee shop.
“It’s going to be family-friendly and neighborhood-accessible,” said Craig DeMarco. “It’s going to be casual. We’re really going for the family vibe.”
The site of the new endeavor is a 4,200-square-foot strip mall that was built in 1940 on the southeast corner of Central and Oregon avenues.
Dee’s International Hairport just moved out after operating there for 32 years, catering to the likes of former Arizona Gov. Rose Mofford.
“There have been 35 different businesses here in 70 years,” DeMarco said.
He said it’s a perfect building for what they want to accomplish, and it’s not unlike what they did across the street when they turned the former Katz’s Deli into Postino. Underneath the exterior, DeMarco discovered a sturdy red brick building that sold him on the structure and the new venture.
He said the total investment in acquiring the property, refurbishing it and gearing it up for the restaurants is $2.2 million.
The Windsor will provide a rich bar experience, Lauren Bailey said.
“We’ll have a large bar in the middle. We traveled to New York and San Francisco to find some bars from the time period of the ’40s,” she said.
Local artisan Daniel Germani is building the marquee piece.
“We’re also collecting one-of-a-kind
vintage furniture. We got some metal chairs from the (Arizona State University) salvage warehouse,” Bailey said.
The target date is April 1 for opening the restaurant and coffee shop, which will include an outdoor patio and green space. It likely will be open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“There will be someone here baking or making ice cream 24 hours a day,” DeMarco said.
Recently, the DeMarcos and Baileys picked a site in historic downtown Gilbert for another Postino Winecafe in a former sports bar. The renovations for that restaurant won’t be complete until early next year, Bailey said.
In the meantime, retail brokers Brad Balbo and Matt Milinovich of Strategic Retail Group are scouting other sites.
“We’re currently looking for a Postino location in Scottsdale,” Balbo said.
“Ideally, we’d love to find a historic building; but we’re in a city that is not that old, so it’s hard to find.”
The reuse of historic buildings for restaurant and retail spaces is a trend Milinovich said is starting to gain traction.
“We love this kind of stuff,” he said.
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