A Tasting Room is preparing to open its wine shop at 19 S. Second St. in downtown Wilmington. Renovations began earlier this week and will feature reclaimed lumber from a North Carolina tobacco barn.

Co-owner Michael Bevacqua says he and partner Anthony Palermo visited numerous locations before deciding on the building on S. Second. The retail wine shop will contain a tasting bar and an outdoor courtyard.

In a statement posted on the company’s website, the owners said they are thrilled and humbled by the opportunity to join their friends and neighbors in the downtown Wilmington business community and that they are working to create and manage a space that caters directly to the community that helped build them.

A Tasting Room started as an online wine club and delivery service earlier this year and has been gathering capital from a crowdsourcing campaign to help fund a brick and mortar store.

“It’s really been amazing how things have fallen into place,” said Bevacqua. “You ask people to be generous and they are.”

A Tasting Room will provide small-production, high-quality wine and beer in a shop that has a neighborhood feel, according to Bevacqua. He and Palermo will also support local artists and neighborhood musicians by displaying their work and allowing them to perform.

“It’s important to us to link up with other like-minded individuals, businesses and community groups, and make the kind of connections that benefit everyone," Bevacqua said.

Bevacqua plans to open A Tasting Room within the next two weeks and will build up to a grand opening celebration later this spring. Opening and event information will be available via social media and the store’s website.

Have a tip for restaurant roundup? Email us at [email protected].