Southside wine shop Oxford Cellars changes hands – Richmond BizSense

A longstanding South Richmond wine shop is now under new ownership.

Oxford Cellars, which first opened more than decade ago as the south-of-the-river outpost of Once Upon A Vine, was purchased in recent weeks by Chantel Crocker.

The sellers were Richmond Caldwell and Ernest Walker, who had owned the shop at 2817 Hathaway Road within the Stratford Hills Shopping Center since 2019.

Crocker, a self-described wine enthusiast, was previously general manager of the now-shuttered Fan restaurant Lady N’awlins, which closed two years ago and was owned by her husband, Jake Crocker. She also has experience in event planning, retail and bartending.

She said she was drawn to Oxford Cellars because it’s situated in what she feels is a bustling part of town.

“I love the fact it’s in such a booming neighborhood,” Crocker said. “It seems like everyone is very community oriented, and it was something I wanted to be a part of.”

Now at the helm of Oxford Cellars, Crocker said she intends to expand the wine-and-beer store’s product selection.

Chantel Crocker

“We’re trying to bring in a lot of things you can’t find in your local supermarket,” Crocker said. “We have Virginia wines, but also Old and New World wines.”

Crocker continues to hold wine tastings at Oxford Cellars, and said she might add more of the events to the shop’s calendar.

“I think if anything, I want to bring in more wine tastings. Right now they’re just on Fridays. I want to see if there are things we can do outside of the shop. I’m still trying to wrap my head around those ideas,” she said in an interview earlier this month.

Caldwell, who handled the store’s day-to-day while he was an owner, is a Buddhist priest and said he wanted to sell the business in order to devote time and energy to his religious studies.

“This comes down to focusing my time. I just started a five-year program to get the Buddhist equivalent of a master’s degree,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell’s study will involve travel to Nepal, and he felt he couldn’t operate the store at the same time. He said he sought out a buyer because it was important to the neighborhood for Oxford Cellars to remain open. Caldwell said customers continued to support the store through disruptions caused by the construction of the Sheetz at the shopping center center as well as the challenges created by the pandemic.

“I didn’t want to close down the shop. I wanted to ensure the customers and the community still had a place to go,” Caldwell said. “We really made it through some tough times between the Sheetz and road construction, not to mention COVID.”

Caldwell said he already knew the Crockers, and while weighing the future of Oxford Cellars he had a conversation with Jake that led to talks about a deal with Chantel to buy the store. The transaction closed in August. Terms weren’t disclosed.

The shop’s name changed from Once Upon A Vine to Oxford Cellars when Caldwell and Walker bought the business in late 2019. Once Upon A Vine continues to operate with a store in Northside.

Other tenants at the Stratford Hills center include Flowerama, Natalie’s Taste of Lebanon, Encore Vintage and Eat 66, among others.

Across the street, new bagel shop Baltik’s Bagel plans to open in the former Go Bird restaurant building.