{"id":15420,"date":"2013-10-21T18:22:31","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T01:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=15420"},"modified":"2013-10-25T19:51:46","modified_gmt":"2013-10-26T02:51:46","slug":"15420","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=15420","title":{"rendered":"The Bottle Shop To Celebrate 50 Years Of Service To Sierra Madre This Saturday, 10\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Click to enlarge, copyright Bill Coburn 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

Posted 10\/21\/13 –<\/em> In October of 1963, Bill Sullivan was notified by his brother, Frank, of a business opportunity in the city of Sierra Madre.\u00a0 At the time, Bill lived in Chicago, Illinois where he worked as a steamfitter.\u00a0 After hearing from his brother, he made a phone call to California and made arrangements to buy a liquor store in Sierra Madre.\u00a0 One month later, his wife, Marie, and their three children, ages seven, six & four, flew to California to join Bill who was busy preparing to open their new business.\u00a0 The day they landed, they were greeted with the news John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.\u00a0 One month after that, on December 23, 1963, Bill and Marie, who had never even operated a cash register before, opened what is now known as The Bottle Shop.<\/p>\n

Bill\u2019s oldest son, also named Bill, his brother Dan, and sister, Kathy (Copeland) spent much of their childhood working at The Bottle Shop, substituting chores at home for chores at the shop.\u00a0 \u201cWe stocked the cigarettes, bagged the ice, and sorted and separated the deposit bottles seven days a week for which we were paid a weekly allowance of sixty cents,\u201d remembers Bill. \u00a0After graduating from high school in 1975, the younger Bill started working full time at The Bottle Shop, eventually being in charge of all its operations before purchasing it from his dad in 1984.\u00a0 The elder Bill pursued other interests, including founding Sierra Madre City College, a philanthropic organization, and building and owning a storage facility in Sierra Madre until his death in 2011.\u00a0 Marie continues to own Self Storage in Sierra Madre.<\/p>\n

Throughout the years, the store has seen many changes and remodels. When the lease for the business next door expired in 1982, The Buccaneer decided to move a few doors west creating an opportunity for The Bottle Shop to add a seventeen door walk-in box that allowed the store to stock more than one hundred imported beers.\u00a0 In 1998, on the day the City of Sierra Madre celebrated Wistaria Day, the store was gutted by a fire and declared a total loss.\u00a0 Forty days later, with the whole family pitching in, along with help from several community members, the store re-opened.\u00a0 The most recent change occurred in 2011 when the store expanded once again into unoccupied space to the west, adding a climate controlled wine room, and a wine tasting bar allowing customers to sample the various wines sold at The Bottle Shop.<\/p>\n

Today, The Bottle Shop is run by Bill, along with his wife, Patty, and twin sons Jay and Jeff, recent graduates with degrees in Finance from Southern Methodist University.\u00a0 Their daughter Tracy is currently a senior at Santa Clara University, and also helps out whenever she is home from school.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, October 26th<\/sup>, from 2 to 6 pm, The Bottle Shop invites everyone to stop by and celebrate their fifty years of service in Sierra Madre.\u00a0 There will be door prizes, appetizers, and live entertainment by the \u201cMello D\u2019s\u201d, featuring Dave Osti and Deanna Cogan.\u00a0 Participants will have the opportunity to choose among dozens of wines and beers to sample.\u00a0 The cost is $10.00 per person.<\/p>\n