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Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Neighbourhood wine shops and bars are popping up everywhere. Who's behind them?
The decline of the high street has been well documented. In recent years, the suburbs of Dublin, as with many other cities, have seen a decline in traditional retail shops as consumers move online or to large shopping centres. Coffee shops and nail bars seem to benefit from changing consumer habits, but they are not alone. Another less obvious sector is the wine shop or wine bar. Over the past decade a number of independent wine shops have opened up, often in areas with more competitive rents, selling an eclectic range of wines, frequently low intervention and usually from small producers. Received wisdom has it that in order to survive, you also need to offer wine by the glass accompanied by a few nibbles. Thus you end up with part wine shop, part wine bar with links to the local community. Most of them seem to be doing very well. The originals in the genre include La Touche in Greystones, Co Wicklow, Grapevine in Dalkey, 64wine in Glasthule, Red Island in Skerries and Green Man in Terenure. Other newish wine shops in Dublin include The Wine Pair on Clanbrassil Street, Lilith in Stonybatter, Neighbourhood Wine, and Cooper's Bottleshop in Sutton and Clontarf. In addition, two older independents expanded recently, Mitchell & Son to The Vaults on Hatch Street and 64wine to Deerpark Road. [ Fancy a great wine bar with top-class nibbles? Here are 10 to head for around Ireland Opens in new window ] Many of these new shops are run by refugees from the high pressure and long hours of the restaurant business. Roger da Silva runs Pinto Wines in Drumcondra. 'I have three kids, and you can't work until four in the morning and go back at 12 the next day. I lived close to Green Man Wines in Terenure, realised there was no wine shop in Drumcondra, and just made the leap.' Da Silva trained as a sommelier in Portugal. 'I started bartending at 16 and then went on to one of the best hospitality schools in Portugal. I specialised in wine and had a passionate teacher. We are still in touch. I wanted to go to London or Paris, but I had a friend working in Dublin who urged me to come over here, telling me, 'People are very nice'. After 1½ years working in hotels and restaurants I met my wife, local to Drumcondra.' READ MORE Covid was a good thing for him, he believes, making him rethink his priorities. 'I have had amazing support from the local community from day one,' he says. He doesn't serve wine by the glass but does hold tastings every Thursday and Saturday. 'People know each other and see it as a night out. We are niche and people get that.' His palate has a preference for European wines, plus Lebanon and South Africa. 'Of course I am Portuguese, so we have 100-150 Portuguese wines. Maybe I am trying to be niche within a niche!' Seán Gargano of MacCurtain Wine Cellar Bottles at MacCurtain Wine Cellar Trudy Ahern and Séan Gargano are both veterans of the Dublin restaurant scene, having worked front of house in a variety of restaurants and wine bars around the capital. Three years ago they decamped to Cork and opened MacCurtain Wine Cellar on MacCurtain Street. Both are very happy with the move, largely driven by wanting to be close to Ahern's family, but Gargano says, 'I don't think that we could have found a shopfront with a similar style and location in Dublin for anything near the cost here in Cork.' The shop has an excellent range, including many organic, biodynamic and low-intervention wines. About 70 per cent of their business is the wine bar, with customers dropping in for a glass of wine and a plate of nibbles before going on for dinner or a performance in the nearby theatre. Balázs Rakamazi of BaRossa Wines Balázs Rakamazi is a Hungarian who started out in Ireland as a chef. He became more interested in wine and tried to cook in places that stocked good wine. 'It got so wine was giving me inspiration to cook dishes. I realised there wasn't a serious representation of Hungarian wines in Ireland.' So he set up Vinifinesse, a company that imports a portfolio of great wines from central and eastern Europe. Ross Turner, meanwhile, worked in Blackrock Cellar and Mitchell & Son. 'Blackrock Cellar was my local shop,' says Rakamazi, 'so we knew each other. He has the retail experience and has all the contacts. I worked part-time in Pinto Wines to learn a bit.' The two joined forces to open BaRossa Wines, a small, very narrow shop/wine bar in Sandymount, Dublin 4. It is crammed with of fascinating wines, mainly European and not surprisingly, with a sizeable selection from central Europe and what they call the Ancient East, which includes Armenia, Georgia, Greece and more. BaRossa does operate as a wine bar but soon discovered that customers want to book in for private tastings, with up to 11 people sitting at flip-up tables that double as storage areas during the day. 'And sometimes people just pop in for a glass.' Rakamazi and Turner run regular tastings and get a great response from locals. The riesling below is one of their best-selling wines, despite costing €35. 'People try a glass and then buy a bottle to take home', says Rakamazi. Sinéad McCarthy & Paul Gartland of Fíon Eile Fíon Eile ('Another Wine') is a brand new wine shop and event space on the North Circular Road in Phibsborough, Dublin. Sinéad McCarthy and partner Paul Gartland both worked in some of Dublin's finest restaurants for many years before opting for a change. They met while working in Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One . More recently McCarthy was wine manager in Hawksmoor , Gartland in The Greenhouse and Chapter One again with Mickael Viljanen. Prices at the light-filled spacious shop start at €13.50 and there are a few bottles under €15, but they find customers prefer to pay €20-€21.50 for an interesting bottle of wine. 'Locals here are very adventurous and want to try something different. Ninety per cent of people want recommendations,' says McCarthy. One of their first customers asked if they could have a glass of wine, so they have installed tables and chairs and are offering a changing range of wines by the glass. They hope to run classes and possibly a wine school in a large room to one side of the shop. While the shop will require long hours of work, both seem delighted that there will be fewer late nights, and they may even manage to have dinner together. Shop owners pick their favourite wines San Lorenzo, 'Il Casolare' Rosso, La Marche, Italy, Organic San Lorenzo, 'Il Casolare' Rosso, La Marche, Italy, Organic €17-€19, 13% Selected by MacCurtain: this is vibrant and juicy with seductive dark cherry and plum fruits. Enjoy cool with everything from mixed antipasti, pasta dishes, red meats or firm cheeses. From MacCurtain, Cork; 64 Wine, Glasthule; Lilith, D7; Lennox Street Grocer, D8; The Food Store, Claremorris; Rua, Castlebar MOB Lote 3 Dão Red 2021, Portugal MOB Lote 3 Dão Red 2021, Portugal 13.5%, €21 Chosen by Pinto Wines: this is a lovely medium-bodied red wine with blackcurrant and plum fruits, balanced acidity and light tannins on a dry finish. A good all-rounder, but try it alongside grilled lamb chops or medium-firm cheeses. From Red Island, Skerries; La Touche, Greystones; Higgins, D14; Pinto, D9; McHugh's, D5; MacGuinness, Dundalk; Nolan's, D3; Shiels, Malahide; Martins, D3; Leonard's, Trim; Drinkstore, D7; Redmond's, D6 La Moto 2023 Mas Foraster, Montblanc, Conca de Barbera DO, Spain La Moto 2023 Mas Foraster, Montblanc, Conca de Barbera DO, Spain 12%, €23 Fíon Eile chose this lively, easy-drinking red from the hills of Catalonia. 'Bursting with bright summer berries, strawberries and redcurrants, with a touch of dried herbs and a gentle white pepper spice,' says Sinéad McCarthy. 'Light on its feet but full of flavour.' From The Drinkstore, D7; Pinto, D9; Fíon Eile, Phibsborough; Blackrock Cellar; Searsons, Monsktown. Riesling 2021 Világi Winery Terroir Selection, Slovakia Riesling 2021 Világi Winery Terroir Selection, Slovakia 13.5%, €35 From BaRossa, a beautiful complex full-bodied riesling with rich stone fruits, a lively minerality and a long dry finish. Enjoy with all kinds of seafood, white meats and cream cheeses. From Barossa Wines, Sandymount; Pinto, D9; Martin's, D3; Delgany Wine Cottage; Cooper's Bottleshop, D13 and D3
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Charlie Kirk tells 14-year-old girl the main reason women should go to college is to find a husband
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk told a 14-year-old girl her main reason to attend college should be to find a husband. The founder of Turning Point USA was speaking at his recent Young Women's Leadership Summit in Grapevine, Texas, when a high school freshman asked for his "pros and cons" on attending college, mentioning her aspiration for a career in political journalism. Kirk, who dropped out of community college in Chicago, responded by advocating for the "MRS degree." "We should bring back the celebration of MRS degrees," he said. An 'MRS Degree' is a slang term for someone who attends a university to find a spouse and become a Mrs. "College is a scam but if you're going to find your life partner, that's actually a really good reason to go to college", he added.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
MAGA and the single girl
GRAPEVINE, Tex. — 'We are witnessing a cultural revolution.' Alex Clark stood center stage in a hotel ballroom on Friday evening, all business in her tweed minidress, pearls and beehive bun. The influencer and podcast host was addressing the hundreds of attendees who had gathered for the Young Women's Leadership Summit, an annual conference hosted by MAGA youth group Turning Point USA. Perched on a pair of periwinkle platform heels, Clark laid out the tenets of that cultural revolution, one alliterative prescription at a time. 'Less Prozac, more protein!' she said. 'Less burnout, more babies! Less feminism, more femininity!' Clark, whose 'Culture Apothecary' podcast for Turning Point vaulted her to the forefront of the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, was articulating her vision for a new conservative womanhood — one that fused its traditional pillars of faith and family with wellness culture. 'This is Whole Foods meets The West Wing,' she said. 'It's collagen, calluses, and conviction. It's castor oil, Christ, and a well-stocked pantry.' The right has 'the girls who lift weights, eat clean, have their hormones balanced, have their lives together,' Clark said. The left, meanwhile, has 'TikTok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks and a ring light.' All this amounted, by her calculation, to the notion that conservatives are now 'the cool kids' and 'mainstream.' 'We're not running from culture anymore,' she continued. 'We're running it.' Are they? President Donald Trump's most enthusiastic supporters like to imagine that his narrow victory in the 2024 popular vote signals a wholesale rejection of liberal cultural values and institutions. Turning Point leader Charlie Kirk has suggested that liberal ideas prevailed in the past because media and tech leaders had stacked the deck, and that was changing. 'We are the zeitgeist now,' Caroline Downey, the editor in chief of a conservative lifestyle magazine, recently told attendees of a party in Washington. Trump's gains among younger voters, including young women — Kamala Harris still won these groups, but by relatively small margins — have been particularly exciting to the soothsayers of the MAGA cultural revolution. Sure, maybe it was concerns about the economy and the job market, but hear them out: Maybe it was also a backlash against toxic feminism, trans people and the woke police. And what, exactly, is the conservative culture in the age of Trump's second coming? What does it think conservative women should want? These were the questions facing the roughly 3,000 young women, mostly ages 16 to 26, as they flitted around the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in a smear of pastels and florals — ruffles on their dresses, cowboy boots on their feet, bows on their curls. The aesthetic could be summed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder-core, like if the little house on the prairie had been down the street from a Sephora. The conference's Pinterest board of fashion inspiration featured prairie skirts and Kate Middleton-esque silhouettes; its playlist claimed Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa. There were booths selling toothpaste with 'zero ingredients discovered by NASA' and athletic gear from a company 'unapologetic' in its mission to keep transgender women out of women's sports. There were T-shirts instructing you to 'Call Her Crunchy' and tote bags declaring that 'Motherhood is my resistance.' There were the sounds of babies — crying, cooing, nursing — in the background, clutched to the breasts of young mothers who bounced and rocked them in the back of the ballroom. Some of the women wore 'Make America Great Again' hats, but only a few. Trump didn't come up much. The focus was on culture, not politics. After Clark delivered her manifesto on Friday evening, Charlie Kirk's wife, Erika, took the stage to warn against prioritizing work over family. 'You will always be able to create your own company, but children, family, your husband, marriages — that is not a renewable resource,' she said. Of course, many of them wanted careers, she added, acknowledging she herself had an online ministry and a line of biblical streetwear ('They said Noah was a conspiracy then it rained,' reads an $88 hoodie). 'I don't want you to be chasing a paycheck and a title and a corner office,' Erika told the women, only to 'sacrifice such a short window that you have in this time period.' Later, Charlie joined her onstage to take relationship questions from the audience. Erika advised the women to make themselves 'godly' and 'attract the man He made for you.' Specifically: dress modestly, save yourself for marriage, don't curse and gossip. Charlie — who, at an event later in the weekend, would tell the women that college is a 'scam' but a good place to pursue the proverbial 'Mrs.' degree — admonished that if they're not married with kids by age 30, the chances of either happening for them will drop precipitously. 'To the women who are getting married after 30, that's okay,' Erika added, softening the blow. 'I'm trying to bridge the gap here, because it is okay. It's not ideal — it's not probably the best statistical-odd position for you, but God is good, and — ' 'There's nothing wrong with it — ' Kirk interjected. 'Right,' Erika said, cutting him off. The audience laughed. "It's just, I find... ' Her husband shook his head and threw his hands up in spousal surrender. 'If you just want happy talk, then that's fine.' The next day, the line to meet Erika was at least 300 women long, snaking past the booths with the 'Raw Milk Revival' posters and the 'Dump Your Socialist Boyfriend' stickers. For some, the Kirks' advice about how and when to think of marriage had been clarifying. 'If you have any confusion about the steps of womanhood, they are covering all of that, which has been super helpful and insightful,' Lauren Thacker, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth, told The Washington Post the morning after Erika and Charlie's Q&A. For others, it was anxiety-provoking. 'I thought about that laying in bed last night!' said Wren Gordon, 32, a single woman from the Dallas area. 'I thought I would be done having children at this point in my life, not still waiting to get married,' she said. 'So, yeah, that really does freak me out. I have to rely on God and His timing. He's never late for anything.' Later that day, Nicole Hadar, a high-schooler from Massachusetts, approached the microphone in a smocked blue dress to press Charlie Kirk on what, exactly, he thought women should be aspiring to. 'I was wondering if you could clarify what the mission of this summit is, because it's a Young Women's Leadership Summit, and all of the women that spoke on that stage today and yesterday were there because they pursued a career.' As far as Hadar could tell, the takeaway from the conference 'was that I should, quote, get married and have babies.' Murmurs and some giggles rippled across the room. 'That's interesting,' Kirk replied from the stage. His face scrunched into a thoughtful grimace. 'I wouldn't say all of them are there because they pursued a career — maybe I'd have to think about the entire career.' He stammered a bit before continuing. 'I could flip it on you,' he told the high-schooler. 'The people that pursued a career are telling you to pursue kids. Maybe they know something you don't know.' Hadar asked for the microphone back. 'But don't you think that they, like, had children and got married to their wonderful husbands because of their career?' she said. 'Like, if they didn't pursue that career, that wouldn't have happened? I thought that one of the speakers today was really cool about this, and she talked a bit about how you can have a child and a family while also pursuing your career.' An unscheduled panel discussion seemed to be taking shape. 'Again, that's for every one person to decide,' Kirk countered. The mission of the summit, he ultimately concluded, 'is whatever takeaway you want to have' — a renewed sense of patriotism, of 'traditional norms and roles,' of 'true femininity — not this toxic type.' 'But I'll also tell you this,' Kirk added. 'I hope that some of you ... walk away with a warning that a career-driven life is very empty.' You notice how everyone's dressed and how I'm dressed? I'm dressed like a New Yorker.' Arynne Wexler, in a black tube top and a long white skirt, stood out against the sea of nursery tones and florals. Not that she minds. 'Maybe a liberal would come here and be afraid of floral dresses, but I'm not afraid of the milkmaid dress,' she says. 'I just don't dress like that.' She was hanging out in the convention center lobby on Saturday afternoon ahead of her Sunday morning panel on 'Next Gen Female Voices: Media, Culture & Impact.' Wexler grew up in Westchester County, New York, and graduated from Wharton. She runs a popular Instagram account where she mocks Gen Z college degrees as 'pescatarian arts with a concentration on hating white people' and calls the WNBA 'welfare for tall lesbians' — but she'd delete her account tomorrow if she could trade it in for a husband and kids. She is Jewish, and religious. She eats healthy, but when it comes to the most recent iteration of the cultural right, Wexler has her limits. 'RFK can take that diet Dr Pepper out of my cold, dead, aspartame-filled fingers — he's not f---ing going near that,' she says. Also: 'I'm not gonna use your f---ing pronouns.' she says. (Wexler apparently missed Erika Kirk's advice to 'harness your tongue in a way that's biblical.') She believes there are plenty of people like her out there — those with 'common sense, patriotic values' — who feel culturally out of place among conservatives. The 2024 election cycle had been an 'ascendant time' for the right, she said, but that was partly because people were sick of the excesses of the left — the people Wexler would describe at her panel as 'androgynous pixie haircut unbathed Marxist freaks in polycules.' But a backlash against liberal ways of life isn't the same as an endorsement of the opposite. 'I do not see the popular vote as supporting conservative culture,' Wexler said. 'We love being extreme and telling people they have to meet us where we are in culture. I don't agree with that.' The last person to address the young women was conservative commentator Brett Cooper. Cooper is 26, recently married, and pregnant. Her YouTube channel has 1.57 million subscribers, a following she's built with a cheerful delivery and a penchant for pop culture. Onstage, Cooper told the story of her mother, whose career-oriented friends had mocked her when she left academia to raise Cooper and her siblings. Feminists and the left, Cooper said, had made a 'grave error' when they chose to champion the idea that 'a woman's value and happiness existed only in her work.' As a response to that error, the 'tradwife' aesthetic made sense. But perhaps, Cooper ventured, the pendulum had swung too far in some corners of conservatism — which had become as 'polarizing and puritanical as what the left was doing years ago,' she said. 'Some people might think that I'm crazy for getting up here on conservative women's conference and saying all of this,' Cooper said. 'But I think it's important to say this because I know that, personally, I fall somewhere between these two extreme binaries that we have been presented with. I'm sure that many of you do as well.' 'Tell 'em, Brett!' someone shouted from the audience. 'I'm not here to say that you need to chase being a wife and a mother and finding an amazing career and stay healthy and not eat seed oils and be engaged in politics and, and, and,' Cooper continued. 'That is really not reasonable. That's not the point.' (Later, over email, she explained her decision to address this in her speech. 'I believe young women want — and deserve — a nuanced approach to work and family,' she wrote. 'Life is more complicated than an X thread.') Letting go of living up to others' expectations and building a life that works for you. It's a sensible bit of wisdom — and not an especially political one. The young women shuffled out of the ballroom for a final time, still buzzing from Cooper's closer. To Leona Salinas, 20, she'd gotten permission to be whoever she wanted. 'Don't overwhelm yourself with thinking that you aren't good enough, career-wise, just because you want to have children,' she said. 'You can't have it all, literally. You don't have to be a career girl boss, you just have to be ambitious in what you do.' 'And as long as you have that — like, I'm literally getting chills.' Salinas paused and rubbed her forearms. 'As long as you have that, you really will be at your peak happiness. And that is what God wants from all of us.'
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bryson DeChambeau Makes Leukemia Survivor's Dream Come True With VIP Golf Getaway
Big-hearted pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau made a 14-year-old leukemia patient's dream come true — flying brave Evan Hayes and his family to Texas for the VIP treatment of a lifetime! The Tennessee teen, who's battled leukemia since he was 6, got the surprise of his life when Bryson not only invited him to his Grapevine home, but also gave him the run of the place! The golf-loving youngster chipped balls alongside the PGA champ on Bryson's backyard putting green, toured his personal gym and trophy room, and even scored a full golf outfit right from the pro's closet — plus autographed balls and gear. Advertisement 'He bought us lunch, dinner, put us up in a hotel, and paid for our flights,' says Evan's mom, Stephanie. 'I can't even begin to explain what an amazing person Bryson DeChambeau is!' The emotional high point? A round of golf at the Grapevine Golf Course, where Evan teed off with his idol and watched in awe as the star stopped to greet nearly every fan who recognized him. 'He's so humble,' Stephanie adds of Bryson. 'He is such a positive guy and he made Evan feel like a star.'
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
GameStop's first-quarter revenue declines as online gaming demand rises
HighlightsGameStop reported a 17% decline in first-quarter revenue, falling to $732.4 million from $881.8 million a year ago, as consumers increasingly prefer digital downloads over physical purchases. The company announced the closure of nearly 600 U.S. stores in 2024, along with a 'significant number' of additional stores this year, indicating ongoing struggles in its retail business. Despite the challenges, GameStop reported a net profit of $44.8 million for the first quarter, contrasting with a net loss of $32.3 million a year prior, aided by cost reduction efforts. Videogame retailer GameStop reported a decline in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday as customers increasingly opted for digital downloads over purchases at its brick-and-mortar stores, sending its shares down 4.6% in after-hours trading. The Grapevine, Texas-based company, known for its rollercoaster stock performance and Reddit-fueled rally in 2021, has long struggled to adapt to the rapidly changing gaming industry as consumer preferences shift away from physical game purchases towards digital downloads, game streaming and online shopping. Despite expanding its ecommerce platform to include digital downloads and online merchandise, GameStop is yet to fully capitalize on the shift. Revenue from its hardware and accessories unit, which includes sales from new and pre-owned video games, dropped about 32% in the reported quarter. Following the closure of nearly 600 U.S. stores in 2024, the company also announced the closing of a "significant number" of additional stores this year, signaling that its retail business continued to flounder in spite of turnaround attempts. The company's efforts to reduce costs helped it report a net profit of $44.8 million for the first quarter, compared with a net loss of $32.3 million a year ago. Early in May, GameStop sold its Canadian subsidiary, Electronics Boutique Canada, which operated its Canadian stores and e-commerce business. GameStop expects the sale of its operations in France to close during fiscal year 2025. It reported an operating loss of $10.8 million in the quarter, which includes $35.5 million of impairment charges related to international restructuring efforts. GameStop revealed that it purchased 4,710 bitcoins between May 3 and June 10 for cash. It had said in March that the board had approved the addition of bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. The company's first-quarter revenue fell 17% to $732.4 million, compared with $881.8 million a year ago.
