The racks of wine at Magnotta's Cambridge store will soon be replaced with vehicles, equipment and staff from the city's nearby public works yard as the winery winds down its Bishop Street operation.
The one-year-old Magnotta location at the Deer Ridge Centre in Kitchener will become the new destination for local oenophiles enamoured with the 33-year-old, family-owned winery.
The City of Cambridge purchased the Magnotta building and property about seven years ago with the intention of using the space and expanding the driveway to the city's adjacent public works yard and the time has finally come to move in.
Paul Kan, the City of Cambridge's manager of realty services, says once Magnotta has left the building, so to speak, the city will decide how best to utilize the space.
The city purchased the property in 2016 for $2.2 million with a goal of one day expanding its Bishop Street Operations Centre located behind Magnotta.
Kan says the city will use the site to accommodate "significant growth in infrastructure services over the last few years" and provide additional space required for vehicle, equipment, staff, and material storage.
Since 2016 Magnotta has signed annual leases for the space, the latest one expiring on Jan. 31, 2024.
Knowing the city wanted to move in when the latest lease was up, the company's vice president of operations Marco Finolio began a search for an alternative location in Cambridge a couple of years ago.
When he couldn't find anything suitable, he looked further north. That's when he the former Fionn MacCool's in King Street East in Kitchener caught his attention.
But the landlord wanted Magnotta to move in immediately, so Finolio jumped at the opportunity and opened with a new license last November.
The license for the Cambridge store is going to Ancaster, says Finolio, explaining that with a limited number of licenses from the province, Magnotta can't simply open more stores and needs to optimize coverage.
"Technically the replacement for Cambridge has been open for almost a year now," he says.
Since Magnotta was in Kitchener before they moved to Cambridge 20 years ago, it's a homecoming of sorts, he says.
Not only does the new Kitchener store sell wine, it also operates a bistro, pairing charcuterie with wine tastings.
It will eventually feature a craft brewery where the company's two beer brands will fill tanks on site.
It means Grand River Brewing will make a return to the region after being brewed exclusively in Vaughan since Magnotta purchased the Cambridge brewery in 2018.
Finolio says some regular customers of the Bishop Street store have already made the switch to Kitchener since it's not that far of a drive.
"We're a destination, so it's not a big deal whether you drive five minutes one way or five minutes the other way," he says.
