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The space was most recently an e-cig shop from Altria. (Mike Platania photo)

Fresh off illuminating its new sign welcoming visitors into the neighborhood, Carytown is also set to welcome a new retailer.

Dinner Party, a wine shop from owner Annie Barrow, is preparing to open next to Penzey's Spices at 3402 W. Cary St.

A native of Williamsburg and certified sommelier, Barrow spent much of her career in New York City and Boston's food and beverage scenes. She worked as a chef before moving toward the wine industry, most recently managing wine shop Alphabet City Wine Co. in Manhattan's East Village.

Annie Barrow (Images courtesy Dinner Party)

Barrow said she always envisioned having a shop of her own, and the idea gained steam after moving back to Virginia a few years ago and after becoming a mother.

"I worked in kitchens for a long time, working under some really great James Beard award-winning chefs, but I also always wanted a family, and I didn't know that (chef) life was completely conducive to that," Barrow said.

"I always planned on opening my own store in New York and I was always on the lookout for spaces. When we moved here, even as I was a stay-at-home-mom, I was always looking at different real estate to see where a good wine shop might be able to go. I happened upon this place and realized there are no wine shops in Carytown."

As the shop name might suggest, Barrow said she wants Dinner Party to carry, "everything you might need for a dinner party in one shop," including pantry items like olive oil, tinned fish, cocktail napkins and more.

"It is a wine shop, first and foremost. But I was like, "If I have to sell food. I might as well sell all the things that I want.' Interesting, imported, hard-to-find things...fun things that you might not be able to find everywhere," Barrow said.

The plan is for Dinner Party to stock a variety of types of wine, sourced mostly from small-production winemakers with a variety of price points.

The shop will carry pantry items along with a variety of wines.

"If you want to spend $15 or under, that's there for your 'any night of the week' wine. But then you're having a big dinner or you're going somewhere you want to bring something nice, those will be there too," she said. "There will be a wine for everything."

Barrow said she plans to eventually host weekly wine tastings and other events at Dinner Party, noting that it'll only be a retail shop and won't serve glasses of wine on-premise.

Dinner Party's space was most recently an e-cig shop for Altria's IQOS brand, but it closed in 2021 after a patent case prohibited the tobacco giant from selling IQOS products in the U.S. The space has sat vacant ever since.

Last week Barrow finalized a lease for the roughly 2,200-square-foot space. Jim Ashby of Thalhimer worked the deal.

Barrow said the space needs only light renovations and that the main showroom will be around 1,000 square feet. She's hoping to have Dinner Party ready to open sometime in November.

Dinner Party is located more toward the western end of Carytown, where the city recently put up an Art Deco-style gantry sign as a gateway to the district.

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