Stonybrook Wine and Spirits

This place is very close to my house, but I pretty much always go out of my way to go elsewhere. They’ve got a horrible, inconsistent selection and nothing has a price tag. I’ve been there when there was no whiskey or bourbon and literally one bottle of vodka. When you do find out how much it’s going to cost you, you wish you hadn’t asked. $ 30ish for a 24 pack that I can get right on Centre St for $ 18 and change? No thanks.
Oh and to top it all off, everyone that works there is a real jerk. Sorry I wanted to buy something, I didn’t mean to inconvenience you.

We live around the corner from it and we go out of our way to walk (or drive) farther to either the Center of JP or Hyde Square liquor stores to avoid going here anymore. Immediately after its initial renovation in 2008 or so, this was a great place to go for a wide selection of good beers and wine, perhaps because it was such a huge improvement over the dark, bullet-​proof glass store with very limited selection that it had been. That being said, the employees have always been rude and over the past 3 years especially, the prices have gone way up while the selection has been scaled way back. Such a disappointment.

As a long time JP resident I think I need to get something of my chest. This store is what is one of the many things you get with gentrification. The prices are laughably inflated. I am not a yuppie that can afford to get shafted every time I want to get a drink.
In order to get my respect this place must set some realistic profit margins. A message to the yuppies: Stop supporting this ripoff.

Stonybrook Wine and Spirits has backslid hard over the years. The first few years they were open, I found them to be friendly, clean, and stocked with good stuff. They still have a decent selection, but the place is all sketched out now. The garbage can out front is always overflowing, there are always employees smoking and talking on their phones just barely outside the front door, and more often than not, there’s a guy (who is apparently buddies with the store employees) panhandling in front of the store. I’m not interested in patronizing this place anymore. It has become a blight on the neighborhood, the same as the place it replaced so many years ago.

Insanely overpriced, at least on the beer side. A 12 pack of regular beer (Blue Moon, for example) will set you back 13 – 15 at a regular liquor store. Here? 20, at least. No joke.
I didn’t stick around long enough to check out the wine. The beer prices were enough to keep me away forever.

This is a convenient location, but seriously, this place has big issues. Unless I really don’t want to go somewhere else on my way home, I almost always avoid Stonybrook Wine & Spirits.
Why?
1) Their opening/​closing hours as posted on their doors are just blatantly wrong. If you go in at night, no problem, but I’ve walked by even at 1pm and they won’t be open. Fix your hours or hire people who actually open the store on time!
2) They’re out of liquor constantly. They ran out of what I usually drink months ago… offered me something else the next time I came in, then ran out of that in two weeks. That was probably 4 months ago, and they’ve never replaced either of those. Sometimes I go in and they’re totally out of any liquor in the front case, and occasionally they’re entirely out of nips, too. What kind of «spirits» store is this? To whoever is in charge there: order more liquor more regularly! I’d go there all the time if you guys ever had anything.

Great location and decent selection of beer, wine and liquor. The prices are a bit high but you pay for the location and convenience. Employees are friendly. All in all a pretty nice place.

It’s a great store to live near! You can find a lot of excellent beer here, including a few scottish brands amongst some locals. Friendly people behind the counter as well, I always love swinging by there.

I love that this store is in our neighborhood. The improvements they’ve made to the property really make the area look nicer, and I feel safer walking home at night from the subway because the lights are on and there is a friendly face by the door. We buy beer here, and the selection is just fine.
My complaint is the wine. I’m not an expert on wine, but I buy a fair amount, and the selection is just kind of bizarre. I usually leave confused and then head over to Winestone’s in Chestnut Hill when I can. I wish they would help people navigate their possibly-​great selection by having a few descriptions and rating cards or wine tastings. When I lived in Somerville, I liked that Wine and Cheese Cask had specials each month and would write up a long description of those wines. I always found new stuff that way.

The prices here are crazy expensive compared to places just around the corner. Nearly ten dollars for a pack of smokes (my sister’s, not me), when you can walk three blocks and get them for $ 6.50. The beer selection isn’t so amazing that it’s worth the price of admission. I guess the reason for the price point is that the Stonybrook T station is right across the street. That kind of access, and you can charge this, apparently.
My couchsurfing buddy, Laura, told me that they essentially employ a hype man. They have a guy who «works» there, whose job it is to harass and taunt customers into spending more. Haha, that’s honestly kind of awesome. We didn’t get to meet him, although there were some greeters who didn’t necessarily appear to be doing anything other than saying «hi» to people. Rather strange for a carryout.

Stonybrook is great as it is accessible and close to the T. It has an awesome beer selection, however, the wine is either VERY expensive or totally cheap. I wish they had some mid-​ranged wines. Also, there is an employee whose position is unclear (he just seems to lean on things and talk) who makes me feel uncomfortable and slightly harassed every time I go in.

A store like this is why Unilocal!exists.
In other words, it’s a hidden gem. It’s really small and, unless you frequent the Stony Brook T-​stop, you’re unlikely to know it’s there. (I only figured it out because I started to use Lamartine St. as a short-​cut to avoid Centre St. traffic.)
The store is almost a victim of its own good management: It’s so cute on the outside that I thought I would surely find rip-​off prices once I got in. Not so! I got three bottles of wine on special for $ 15 and they were pretty good. Of course, not everything is on special but there is a fairly wide selection of affordable wines.
Besides being well-​stocked, parking is easy and the service is friendly.
I don’t drink too often but if you do, you need to check this place out.

My biggest issue with this place is its layout. I feel claustrophobic inside and on a number of occasions have waited outside for Jen. It’s small and they cram a lot into the space but the beer, in particular, is scattered and it’s easy to miss their full selection. Which is a good selection and has some great single beers. There was one guy working once who was a little over-​chatty but very very nice and trying to be helpful.
The prices are high and this would never be my primary store but for a local store, they’re on the right track to give their target demographic what they want.

Many disgruntled reviewers seem to take issue with the beer and hard liquor selection at Stonybrook. However, I came here for wine and found this to be an absolute success! The employee (perhaps the manager) I spoke with was extremely helpful. There are always a ton of 3 for $ 15 wines — which were bough at basically wholesale price. While I love TJ’s if you want a wine that has been aged a bit — you are likely to pay a pretty penny. Here many of the ⁵⁄₁₅ are more than 3 years old!
If you come in and don’t like something (I mean REALLY don’t like it) then you can bring back the bottle with whatever wine is left and get it exchanged for another wine at the same price. This is the kind of wine store that I want to shop at – inexpensive, great wines that I can experiment with!
Can’t wait to blog on the wines I bought!

Kudos to a smart owner who does take a hint from his customers.
Extensive beer selection — Belgian — micro etc…
The wine at first was limited but growing (they are knowledgeable).
They treat the customer right here — I bought a bottle of white went up the street to chill w/​BF OH NO ITS A CORKED BOTTLE — PHEWWWWWWW.
BF made me go back and waited. I came out about 20 min later w/​3 bottles of wine and an education. (teased for five minutes by BF for not knowing what off dry wine was — it was not a corked bottle — the variety is very flat and dry) The owner gave me an education and a few bottles to try. REALLY COOL — I wish them much success.

So yeah, at some point this winter the Mayor Curley-​era corner packie that only sold «Beer”-brand beer got swiftly renovated and turned into… a really decent liquor store within walking distance?
(Sample exchange b/​w an associate of mine and the truculent erstwhile proprietor of the aforementioned Foerster’s:
Associate: Do you have any Corona?
Proprietor: (long pause, glare) No.)
Know what else? Nice guys at this place. Genuinely seem interested in getting to know you a little if you’re a neighbor. They occasionally stock some unexpected beers for a corner store, they aren’t backbreakingly expensive, and as of yet I haven’t been accosted by a pit bull. Top-​shelf, Stony Brook Wine and Spirits.

Great selection here. You can get a 6-​pack of Pabst pint cans or spend way too much money on a bottle of wine. Something for everyone!
One of the employees saw me staring at the vodka section behind the counter (probably looking overwhelmed) and asked what vodka I liked and what my budget was. He was extremely helpful and friendly and I ended up buying an expensive bottle on his recommendation, along with a 6 of Fuller’s London Pride. They get 5 stars because his recommendation was totally on point, and the price was right.
I am suuuper happy to have this store right around the corner from my house. Now I can booze it up all the time!

I never dared enter this place in its Foerester days, largely based on an anecdote by a friend detailing the sticky floors, cashier behind three inches of (supposedly) bullet-​proof glass and the roaches that scurried out from under his dropped wallet.
Freshly face-​lifted, life-​coached and name-​changed, this joint is now a good one. On one occasion a pal stopped by and snagged us some Anchor Mocha Porters, and on another I spent 15 indecisive moments browsing amongst all the totally decent imported and local brews before settling on a very tasty Radeberger Pilsner. They also seem to have a decent wine selection, if you’re into that sort of thing.
This place is more or less a Blanchard’s Jr*., but it’s doing its old man proud.
*Crucial difference: the staff seem capable of stringing together a hospitable sentence and cracking an occasional smile. This is not a phenomenon I have experienced at Blanchard’s.

Ok little liquor store conveniently located right across the way from the Stony Brook T –Stop (hence Stony Brook Wine & Spirits). For such a tiny store they have a pretty good selection, even in the wine department. I haven’t thoroughly explored it, but it looks like they have a well thought out selection within a wide price range. And they happen to carry magnums of my favorite everyday wine, a 2005 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux from Baron Philippe de Rothschild. I’ve never seen the magnum anywhere else (do people have aversions to magnums for some reason? they actually produce better wines– something geeky about the aging process and air). Oh, and once summer comes, they carry my favorite everyday white– I’m not sure what it’s called but it has a picture of a creepy baby on it– we call it the dead baby wine. Good stuff.
Anyway– it sure beats going all the way down to Blanchards and messing with Centre street traffic or trying to make heads or tails of the god-​awful wine selection at Ruggieros (unless you like Yellowtail, stay far far away). For those of us living in the allegedly «sketch» side of JP, this little store ups our yuppie street cred considerably.

Updated to say that they have stocked everything I requested and then some. Best cider selection! Good champagne selection too.
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YAAAAAY new liquor mart right near my house! This is the old «foersters» that has just been freshly renovated under new management. They have really improved the place by opening up a lot more available space, tearing down the brown dreary dark interior and bulletproof glass. Adding fresh everything. Floors, big windows, lots of lights.
The selection is 10 thousand times better than the place before it. Tons of mixers, really good liquor selection, and candy! I am so, so, so happy that this renovation took place. The owners seem really nice and were happy to write down my suggestion to stock magners and woodchuck.
LOVE IT.