Breathe Wine & Culture Co

Announcer: This is the Tri State Time Machine, brought to you by Alex R. White, pllc@suedistractedriver.com each week, your host, Vanessa Hankins and her guests share memories and stories about the past, the present, and the future of the Tri State area. That's West Virginia, Kentucky, and the Ohio areas. If you used to live here or you currently live here, you're going to catch yourself saying out loud, wow, I remember that. Now here's Vanessa.

Vanessa: Hey, guys, and welcome back to the Tri State Time Machine. I'm, um, Vanessa.

Jason Arthur: And I'm Jason. Welcome, everybody.

Vanessa: We're excited to have you back. Um, we've kind of been releasing content left and right, I think, recently, so hopefully you guys are keeping, uh, up with us. Um, today we have. I'm going to actually let you guys introduce yourself and talk about your business venture that you are on together. So go ahead.

Cheryl Herdman: Hi, my name is Cheryl Herdman. I'm the, um, owner of Breathe wine and Culture Company in Huntington, West Virginia.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: And I'm Devon Di Fillipo Reed and I'm the operations manager at Breathe wine and Culture company.

Vanessa: Love that. I wasn't sure about, like, I knew that was Breathe, but I was like, I'm gonna butcher it. So I was like, let me just let them breathe.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Wine, for short works great.

Vanessa: Yes, yes, yes. Um, so we're excited to have you guys, and we're excited to talk a little bit about the opportunities that are out here in the community for people to partake in. And, um, immediately your business came up, so we were excited to have you. So we're excited that you were down for it and all that. So, um. Oh, no problem. Glad to have you. Absolutely. Um, can you guys tell us, or can you tell us, uh, Cheryl, a little bit about the moment that you decided to take the leap and open your own business?

Cheryl Herdman: Uh, I probably went through several moments with that. I was like, oh, I'm gonna do it now. Oh, I'm gonna wait, I'm gonna do it now. Um, I think that really, when it comes to this business and, uh, any retail establishment, it becomes about the location or.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: You walk in somewhere and you have a feeling about it, you the right time. And I think that's happened for us a couple of times with Breathe. It's like, what, you know, what's the next step? And, you know, we walked into the space here in Huntington, and we weren't really looking to do an expansion or to, you know, make. Make big changes, but we're like, oh.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: But this, you know, this can Be this.

Cheryl Herdman: And you know, you just see a space and you can.

Vanessa: When it speaks to you.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah. You see the vision around it.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, it worked for us. And we, you know, we get excited about it. Um, we both are Marshall graduates, so we were excited to come to Huntington.

Jason Arthur: Love that.

Vanessa: Yeah, absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: You know what?

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Like, this is.

Cheryl Herdman: This is. This is a good fit. This is kind of where we are right now.

Vanessa: So where are the two of you actually from if you just went to Marshall? So you're actually from Huntington.

Cheryl Herdman: I'm from Putnam County.

Vanessa: Oh, Putnam.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: From South Charleston.

Vanessa: Oh, okay. So, I mean, local enough. Local enough. All right, awesome.

Cheryl Herdman: Far away.

Vanessa: Yeah, no, absolutely. And Putnam's like a wonderful, like half, halfway mark for Charleston and Huntington. So I always say, like, if I ever relocate, that'll be where I go. Um, Jason, you want to ask one m sure.

Jason Arthur: You know, obviously, I've been to Breathe. I love the place. Um, by the. You all have so many great selections. I've gone in. You all do a great job with even your tastings and things like that on the weekends. What's a typical day like for you all there? I mean, obviously, I'm sure it's changed and developed a little bit, but what do you feel like is a good, typical day for you all?

Cheryl Herdman: I mean, a good typical day is, ah, we're planning for the weekend. We're getting ready for our wine samplings. We're working through the week, um, between us and our staff to keep our food services going, adding in as many things as we can as we go along. We're just getting ready for the next event. Is kind of what each day looks like.

Jason Arthur: Sure.

Cheryl Herdman: And every week we host a wine sampling at our shop, um, from 3:00 o'clock to 9:00 clock. So that's just kind of like a constant churn of planning for that event. Trying to make.

Vanessa: So you can count on that every Saturday you can go and try some new wines. That's exciting. I know. I have to be honest. I'm not a wine drinker. My husband is. I'm not. So they're always time trying to.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It's free and casual.

Jason Arthur: Everybody has a story.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Exactly.

Vanessa: Was just given. Um, I had some other girls from another podcast called Watch 4 Deer. They're out of, uh, Out Wayne. And you got to say, out Wayne. It's not just Wayne. Um, and they brought me a Kenwood. It's like a fruity like. I guess that's kind of their. Kirkwood. Kirkwood. Okay. But they were very excited about it being a West Virginia wine and stuff. And they're like, you have to chill it. You have to do this. You have to do this. And it has to be the perfect moment and you'll love it. And this is gonna be your first wine you love. Because I told him I was like, the most I've ever drank is like a rose in college, or I was like, I don't remember. I would drink anything in college. So. But yeah, they gave me that. So I'm excited to try that. So that'll be my first venture into wine. Well, hold on, let me backtrack a minute. My first venture into wine. I'll share a little story with you guys because, uh, why not make fun of yourself? My wonderful husband, before he was my husband, cooked me a beautiful Italian meal and had all the pasta, and he got, ah, red wine. And we had just painted our kitchen this, like, very soft yellow. And he's like, try this. And I just madly in love. Yeah, you're still in that. Lovey dovey. I'll do anything for you. Take a big drink of this red wine. I spit it everywhere. I stained the walls, I stained the cabinets. It was so bad. I was like, oh, man. So this will be my second venture into trying wine, but I may have to. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm a little older now. I'm a little, you know, so hopefully it's a better situation, but I'll definitely have to try that. So count on every day or every. What was it?

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: 3?

Vanessa: 2. 3 to 9pm 3 to 9pm that's nice.

Cheryl Herdman: Or anything. We're just, we're trying something new.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, and it's casual. And we're not. We don't want to be that judgy wine shop we want.

Cheryl Herdman: We are.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Wine for normal people is what we like.

Vanessa: I love that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: I love that. So, uh, we're not, we're not judging. We're learning ourselves, half of us, you.

Vanessa: Know, So I can completely walk in and be like, hey, listen, I've never tried wines other than my two incidents.

Cheryl Herdman: If you do need to spit, we have a cup.

Vanessa: Okay, perfect.

Cheryl Herdman: Perfect.

Vanessa: There's a proper way to do that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: I always joke with people that I can tell. They're like, oh, that's good. I'm like, you can tell me you don't like it. I didn't make this one.

Vanessa: You're not gonna hurt my feelings.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Exactly.

Jason Arthur: It's not from our family vineyard.

Cheryl Herdman: Right, Right.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: We want to be that place that people are comfortable coming in.

Vanessa: Yeah, uh, absolutely.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: You Know, asking questions and feeling new and being vulnerable and really trying to.

Vanessa: Sometimes that is a very scary thing in retail. Whether it's like you're shopping for clothes, liquor, wine, like whatever it is, sometimes it is very intimidating. So I get that and I love that you guys, that's what you want out of your space. So I think that's awesome. Um, how do you handle your inventory sourcing and supplier relationships? Like in the economy that we're in, do you find that to be a hard aspect of the business?

Cheryl Herdman: I think that we thought it would be. But we have such wonderful line reps and we've worked for years to develop our relationship with them. And they know they don't come to us to sell everything, that they're being pushed.

Vanessa: Right, right.

Cheryl Herdman: We're very. About who we are, what we want and what to bring in. And so they've learned, um, to work with us. And I don't. It's not the challenge that we thought it was going to be.

Vanessa: That's all. That's great news. Yeah.

Cheryl Herdman: The wine world is much more chill than I expected it to be. And it's not pretentious. It's not hoity hoity. We're just everybody's.

Vanessa: See, I would have assumed.

Cheryl Herdman: So it's not. Nobody comes in and tries to lecture you or, you know, shame you for not knowing things. It's not about that at all. So that's nice. That's a nice, positive, refreshing thing.

Vanessa: I think, like you said, you're very clear on what you want and what your expectation is for your storefront. So I think that's cool that you guys have a good relationship with your suppliers and things like that, your reps and, um, that they respect that boundary.

Cheryl Herdman: We want our store to be unique. We don't want to sell the wines that, ah, you can buy at Target Kroger. They have a certain customer base that they're absolutely. And so we want ours to be a little different, a little more experimental. Um, interesting. Really. A good flair on local wines. Um, local craft beers. Like, we're more than just wine. We also do over 150, uh, craft beers.

Vanessa: Wow. Brandon does need to go. You and Brandon need to have another mandate.

Jason Arthur: Listen, they have a huge selection, like probably the best by far in the downtown area, but even in the city. Your old selection's unbelievable. And that's. I was actually taking pictures the last wine tasting you all had and sending them to her husband. We've got to get down here and check this out.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Ah, for sure.

Jason Arthur: So it's great.

Cheryl Herdman: We like to say, like Devin handles all the craft beer and I handle the wine. And she, she really loves that aspect of the business. And um, I think we've grown that and done really well with it. Um, a lot of times people be surprised to be like, you did this.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Funny that I'm talking to someone and they're, you know, complimenting the selection. I'm like, oh, well, thank you. You know, I've worked hard on picking and choosing and they're like, they just.

Vanessa: Kind of look at me like I was gonna say, do they assume that it's a man? Yes, every time often. I could see that. I could see that. It's funny because Jason asked me, he was like, who's coming today? And I was like, I don't know if it's women, if it's men. I was like, I was like, I'm assuming, I said, I'm assuming it's a woman. But I was like, I'm not sure. It could be a man and a woman. I'm not sure. She just said two.

Jason Arthur: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It's funny seeing people's reaction because you just assume. I mean, you know, beer's a quote man, right?

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It's that beer selection in there is all me.

Vanessa: Right?

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: I love that selection is all Cheryl. And it's funny sometimes even people responding to knowing that the owner of the shop is a woman.

Vanessa: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It's like, oh, it kind of takes them back. I'm like, yeah, yeah.

Vanessa: What did you expect, right?

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: We just gotta go.

Vanessa: We love you, Jason. Chopped liver.

Jason Arthur: That's what brought me into you all. I knew the first thing I ever saw about you all was that this is a woman owned company, blah, blah. I thought I'm gonna go try this out for one. I do like wine. Okay. I love seeing a good selection. Other than, you know, you've got one or two places in the whole area that have good wine selection. But then I saw that and I thought, yeah, I'm gonna give it a try. And then I saw the SAMP all carry stuff from all over, so it was really good. Now another thing that we haven't touched on yet, you all do carry food sometimes as well. So if you can elaborate on that a little bit.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, well, so we function through the week as a bistro as well. So we have a cafe style foods, we have a menu that's available, um, specifically between 11 and three for lunch. And then we also do some carryover into later. We m do some doordash and of course, you can call in and order at any time. Um, in addition to that, with food, we do catering. So we've been doing, um, catered events around town, trying to develop that aspect. Basically. Um, you know, at the heart of who we are, we're a wine and craft beer retail store. Um, of course, we also, you know, we love to be part of the community, reach out, you know, find out what's going on and anything that we can provide to kind of enhance the wine and craft beer or to enhance the community. And that's the cultural aspect of Absolutely Free Wine and culture company. We're trying to, you know, make wine part of the culture and bring the culture that we have in this area into wine. So we want to be part of the communities that we serve as well.

Vanessa: Absolutely, absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: So we really focus on trying to get out and do things, and what people want is food, and it happens to be something else we're good at. So we've been able to incorporate the wine and craft beer with food and with events and with services and things a little beyond the walls of our store.

Vanessa: Yeah, absolutely.

Jason Arthur: Eating good food is going to make you want to drink some of the food.

Vanessa: I was going to say we're going to have to try the new lunch spot. I didn't know that was a thing. It is absolute. Um, what is one thing that you wish you had known before starting the business?

Cheryl Herdman: I can't think of anything. It says learn as you go.

Vanessa: You know what I mean?

Cheryl Herdman: Of course. You wish you knew everything and you think you know everything, but I didn't know anything.

Vanessa: Right.

Cheryl Herdman: You know, and, um, I'm happy to learn. I'm happy we have great people alongside us, uh, to learn with and that we're able to, like, just get to know people and just become involved with people. I mean, we're not afraid of. We're not sitting back shyly, like, waiting for people to come to us. We're happy to go to them.

Vanessa: Sure, absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: So, I mean, I think that, of course you would want to know.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Retail is hard.

Cheryl Herdman: Then that might have scared us away.

Vanessa: So retail is tough.

Cheryl Herdman: It's a whole new thing. Um, people are fickle. People have very, very high expectations for small businesses.

Vanessa: Humans are going to human, is what I say.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Small businesses definitely don't get as much grace as big companies do. Make a mistake or if you don't have something they're looking for. We've definitely found that out and which is fine. Everybody has their opinions, but I feel like we pride ourselves in being so Flexible that I feel like that's why it's hard for her to answer that question. What you wish you would have known, because every day we're changing, we're growing, and we're changing.

Vanessa: And that's a fantastic answer, though. Yeah.

Jason Arthur: Uh, it means you and the business are going to grow together.

Vanessa: That's what I was going to say. Yeah. Uh, absolutely.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Very well. To our customers asking for certain things. We'll do special orders for them. If I don't know. We're just very. We're very flexible in that aspect, that we listen to the community and.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah.

Jason Arthur: Uh, I love it.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: We'll change the business accordingly.

Jason Arthur: What do you all think has been the hardest thing to overcome so far? I know it's still early stages, but what do you feel like it's really been that kind of pivotal?

Cheryl Herdman: Man, I hate dry January.

Vanessa: I never even thought of that. That's so funny.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: January is real for a, uh, wine and craft. I can see that it's on top of dry January. And everybody's like, I'm gonna spend less. So it's like our Ye Bistro gets hit hard because everybody's on their kick to cook at home, which is fine. We get it, you know, but it's like a double whammy with the alcohol and the food getting hit and then the cold. Nobody.

Vanessa: I really never thought, like, it never.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Hurt comes up later after that.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah.

Jason Arthur: They're ready to spend again. It works out.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Cheryl Herdman: And then we hit Lent, and then.

Vanessa: Oh, yes. You're like, I got it all. That's so funny. Um, how would you say that the local community has responded to your storefront?

Cheryl Herdman: You know, I think it's been a really great response. Like, I always kind of say we've come in a year where I expected to be in three years.

Vanessa: Oh, that's fantastic.

Cheryl Herdman: As far as the outreach to people, you know, the, uh, word of mouth, you know, just kind of like the building the reputation. That stuff takes time.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: And so I feel like we're making really great progress for a year. And I feel like we have so much potential to grow and to develop our business. And, you know, just every day we're meeting somebody new. Today we met you guys. Absolutely amazing. Like, uh, some people never can. Can reach that point where.

Vanessa: Right.

Cheryl Herdman: They're willing to stick their neck out there.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: Make the changes that you need to make to make a business work. And so, like, you know, we're. We're gonna make it work. Like, that's just who we are.

Vanessa: I love that. Yeah, I love that so much. What, um, do you think that your, um, main marketing strategy, would it be like social media, radio, things like that? What, what is your biggest tool that you think has helped your storefront?

Cheryl Herdman: I think the biggest bag of tricks. Uh, we have a pretty good social media presence. We're still trying to grow that. We're big in the Facebook. Um, we're trying to grow our Instagram or TikTok.

Vanessa: It's hard to keep up where all the kids are going. And I don't mean like kids underage that are. Let me clarify about that. Right, right.

Cheryl Herdman: And then like kind of dabble and everything and ever. Like we just joined the Chamber of commerce.

Vanessa: We think that's nice. I love the chamber. That'll help a lot.

Cheryl Herdman: They've already been amazingly helpful and it's just something that you don't think about it doing as a marketing strategy. But like literally everything is marketing. Like you're just.

Vanessa: It really is.

Cheryl Herdman: You're talking yourself up. Wear these T shirts.

Vanessa: That's what I was gonna say. Even like going out in public with your dressing is like marketing yourself.

Cheryl Herdman: And like we've gotten customers that way. We, you know, long term customers that just meet somebody on the street and you just, you just have to not be shock and not be afraid.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: To put yourself out there.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: I love that Panera Bread, I think. And someone stopped her because of her T shirt. They stopped me because I had a drink local T shirt that we sell in the shop.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: And it was. I think we were in Charleston where they're like, oh my gosh, we're gonna come down to Huntington.

Vanessa: Oh, I love that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: So it's just something as simple as wearing a shirt.

Vanessa: M. That's huge that someone wants to take that drive because that drive's not fun. Depending on the time of day people.

Cheryl Herdman: Do they make the drum.

Vanessa: Yeah. That's like the biggest compliment. Absolutely.

Jason Arthur: Wine and craft beer has such a good following too. It seems to be growing, you know, even with young people now. So it's good. One thing I wanted to ask, just kind of touch base with back with what you said. You all have done so well in the first year. So my question to you is, where do you see yourself in maybe five years?

Cheryl Herdman: We plan to take over the world.

Vanessa: Perfect pinky in the brain vibes.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, you know, we're never shut off to any ideas. So of course what we have to do is streamline our services. We have to figure out who we are as a business, what we're going to provide and then do that the best that we can and then get to the point where we feel comfortable growing or changing or whatever it is that we need to do. We just kind of like, duck and move with everything that rolls at us. And, um, I think we'll keep doing. I would love to grow the business. I would love to advance up to other areas. Um, we would love to do event space. Like, that's kind of a dream.

Jason Arthur: Yeah, festivals, anything.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Have a big venue with our catering that we could. You know, we're good at catering, but we'd love to be able to, like, we have a venue for you as well and offer like an all inclusive.

Jason Arthur: Kind of bring your wines, your craft beers, your food. Yeah, that would be great.

Vanessa: That would be great.

Cheryl Herdman: Where it organically takes us.

Jason Arthur: I love that.

Vanessa: Sounds like a wonderful place plan.

Cheryl Herdman: We're still having fun and, you know, it's. And that it's, you know, fun and.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It just needs to stay fun.

Vanessa: Right. We get to drink for a living.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Like, yeah, we're stressed, but we know that we have a place we can get good wine and good beer to take home. Right, Right, Exactly. After a long day.

Vanessa: That's so funny. Um, do you have any memorable custom customer. Goodness gracious. Stories that you guys can. Could share? Anything that sticks out at the top of your mind?

Cheryl Herdman: We have some really incredible customers. And, like, you don't think that you'll get so attached to people like, you know, just popping in your store here and there.

Vanessa: But we love to see them coming.

Cheryl Herdman: We're kind of like, we got Quarterburg Brown, comes in a couple times a week.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: He has his girl in it.

Vanessa: Uh, he actually just agreed to be on the podcast. Like, I was just talking to him, like, right before I came in today. He's wonderful.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: He has his signature order that he gets. And one day I finally was like, I really enjoy your music. You know, I don't really. He was like, thank you. So he was so appreciative. He didn't feel silly for being like, oh, it's.

Vanessa: I always, like, it's so funny because I always. And I've told Jason this too. Um, Jason and I did not grow up together or anything. We met as adults. So, like, um, I always am telling him things about my childhood, but Corduroy Allen was friends with my little sister growing up, so, like, it's so weird for me to call him Corduroy.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Oh, yeah.

Vanessa: So, like, I'm like, hey, calling in a favor from an old friend. You want to be on the podcast? But he is. He's so wonderful. I love that. I love that so much.

Jason Arthur: What do customers say make you all so different? I mean, obviously what you're doing is working. You're fun, you're trying a little bit of different angles all the time. What do you think would really step out to everybody that makes you different?

Cheryl Herdman: I mean, I think that they quickly learn that we're customer focused. You know, we're there for them. So a lot of things that they'll ask, maybe other businesses or things. I mean, I think we put that extra effort in to not. I mean, we're here to serve them. Right. You know, so these are the same customers are the ones coming back. It's not like a rotating door of brand new people all the time. I mean, these are people that we know. We may not know their name, but they come in and you know, like.

Vanessa: I said, well, you know their order.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah.

Cheryl Herdman: And you're Rose. And you know, we, we know who they are and what they want. And you know, we, we curate our, our collection based on what they need. You know, sometimes the customer will be like, oh, I had this wine here. Of course they'll. They show you a million. Hey, how'd this wine in, um, France? And I'm like, y.

Jason Arthur: Perfect.

Cheryl Herdman: In North Carolina.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: And it was a white wine. And I'm like, can't, ah, help you there.

Vanessa: Take a picture next time.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah, they do.

Cheryl Herdman: They bring us something and we'll be like, hey, we can get that. And not only will we get it, we'll try it with everybody else. And if they like, it becomes.

Vanessa: It becomes a storefront. Yeah, I, uh, love that.

Cheryl Herdman: So I think it, you know, what they want matters.

Vanessa: Absolutely. Or you want to be a business.

Cheryl Herdman: So we, um, I think we listen to them, we develop relationships with them and just appreciate it.

Vanessa: Really Sounds like your customers have really become kind of part of your family in a way.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah.

Cheryl Herdman: I love that customers that we've had customers die and it's just been.

Vanessa: Yeah, it's kind of traumatic. Yeah, it really is.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Just really. It's. I don't know, I guess in your mind you're like, okay. Other people are like, it's just a customer. But it's like when we found out the news of some of them, it just. I genuinely cried because I was like, that was, you know, so and so who ordered this? And she was a regular.

Vanessa: And you get to know them when you small talk so much.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Right.

Vanessa: Uh, that's a big thing that I've found that I do to other People.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It just seems like such a superficial relationship, but it really grows. You know, they're coming into your places.

Vanessa: I mean, you spend more time at work than you do with your actual family. So, I mean, your work family becomes your family. But then I could see the customers also becoming that way as well. So that's a fantastic answer.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: I love our customers. And it's fun, um, like, having customers like, can you get this beer for me? Can you get this wine? And you find it, you know, like, yes, hey, I found your beer. And they get so excited that you're willing to special order that for you.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: We've had people make comments. Well, I asked, you know, so and so at Kroger did. Kroger won't do it.

Vanessa: And I'm like, well, they're a corporation.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Uh, maybe they're not allowed.

Jason Arthur: Corporate's not local business. It's a little more customary with you all.

Cheryl Herdman: And I like that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: That's what, like, she was saying. It's just. It's fun to do that. I love being able to find a special beer or wine for a customer and being able to tell them, hey, we'll special order this. Sometimes it ends up sticking on our shelves because other people end up liking it, too. So.

Vanessa: Makes it to the wine tasting. I love that. That's cool. Now, do you do tastings, um, of the beers as well, or just the wine?

Cheryl Herdman: So beer sampling is not really allowed in West Virginia. But we have done some ciders, because that's a wine. So we've done some tastings with Country Boy Kentucky, and different ciders and meat.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: And things like that.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, but mostly it's wine.

Vanessa: Okay.

Cheryl Herdman: And, you know, then that's one thing, too. I think it sets us apart for our customers, is that we're consistent in that every week we're doing that wine sampling. It might not be all flash and flair. Oh, we're doing this giant wine sampling, but we're opening and pouring something every week.

Vanessa: Yeah. And it's a great way to get out and network, especially. I have so many girlfriends that are single, and they just. They want something to do every day of the week. So they can. I love that they can look forward to that on Saturday and meeting new people each time, probably.

Cheryl Herdman: Yeah.

Vanessa: That's pretty cool.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: We've seen some customers become friends with each other at the wine sample. They didn't know each other prior.

Vanessa: That's kind of what, like, I had.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: In mind Breathe on Saturday. And it's like, I don't know. It's just. It's quite fun.

Vanessa: We can be friends. Yeah. I love that relationships grow. So if you could give, uh, one piece of advice to someone starting a retail business, what do you think it would be?

Cheryl Herdman: You know, just go for it. If you feel it, like there's something there.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah.

Cheryl Herdman: So you just kind of like harness that energy and just, just shoot for it.

Vanessa: I love that. Just go for it.

Cheryl Herdman: That's what I always tell Devin. You know, 90% of it is showing up.

Vanessa: Absolutely. And that goes with life in general, so. Absolutely.

Jason Arthur: What are some other local businesses that you all work pretty close knit with that you would like to kind of give a shout out or talk about a little bit?

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: So many. We love our neighbors. Um, Trusoul. Becca with Trusoul Boutique across the street. We love her, love her dog, Jolene. She always gets her cheese bites whenever she comes in. So, um, we've worked with the hot works people come over and order lunch.

Vanessa: Nice.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, VC Boutique. Holly with VC Boutique.

Cheryl Herdman: Good relationship with the peddler.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, oh, love the peddler. We just had lunch there today, so.

Vanessa: Peddler is fantastic. Drew. Yeah, they're fantastic. Fantastic.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Uh, Jay, the head brewer, I was like, I want to brew a beer with you guys. Like, let's find something.

Vanessa: Oh, that would be fun.

Jason Arthur: Collaboration.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah. So we could do a breathe peddler.

Vanessa: That would be really cool.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, we've had like our local vendors that are in the shop that don't really have storefronts, but we have like Omakay's gluten free goodies. We stock her stuff. Um, Jennifer with Wildly made gives us sourdough and cheesecakes and tinctures and she.

Cheryl Herdman: They're.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: They're a brand of many talents, we like to say. Her and her husband Jonathan just do a great, fantastic. Um, Sarah with old Main Emporium comes over and gets afternoon snackies from us.

Vanessa: Love that.

Jason Arthur: Uh, that's good. Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, we just, we love our neighbors, you know.

Vanessa: That's fantastic.

Jason Arthur: We try and go, well, your all's location is perfect.

Vanessa: Yeah, Your location is phenomenal.

Jason Arthur: So locally centered around everybody of all different types. And it allows all of you all to network together and feed off each other, basically.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah, yeah.

Vanessa: And people make their rounds. M. So it's nice that everyone doesn't feel like, oh, I can't go there because they don't get along with so and so or you.

Cheryl Herdman: No one ever feels that way about us. Right. I mean, we're trying to support other small businesses, other local cottage makers, artisans. Um, you know, we have an entire local art gallery in our shop.

Vanessa: I was getting ready to bring that up. Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Sure.

Cheryl Herdman: I mean, one thing, you know, when we talk about Breathe Wine and Culture Company, that's what we want to be. We want to be part of the culture. And you can't deny that the part of our Appalachian culture is beautiful and artistic really is definitely the music, the art, the, you know, the pottery, the artis, the food. Like, that's, that's part of who we are. And so we just want to showcase those things in our store. It makes our store more interesting, it makes your area more interesting and it gives people an opportunity, you know, to advance and grow their art and to show, you know, showcase our culture. And so it's just a lot of fun to meet new people and bring in new things and have all those connections with your community and support other small businesses. Because like, this is what, what it's about.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Cheryl Herdman: It's not about Walmart.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: That's what makes Huntington interesting. Or the people.

Cheryl Herdman: Nobody says Walmart.

Vanessa: I was gonna say the moment, the moment my husband hears this, he's gonna be like, I like her. She needs to be my friend.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: No one's gonna say, wow, I visited Huntington and went to the Walmart, you know.

Vanessa: Right.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Such a great trip.

Vanessa: Yeah, right, right. And ah, like I told, I was telling you guys before we started recording, just telling my listeners at home. Um, a lot of our listeners are like college grads from Marshall or they grew up in the area and moved away for work or college and, or either one. Um, so I think people, uh, will be really excited to plan their weekend visits into town for like their Marshall games and stuff like that to make time for that wine tasting. I think a lot of people will partake in that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: A lot of our customers have said, wow, when my parents come to visit, I'm going to bring them.

Vanessa: Yes. And that's another big thing that's would.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Become like a destination spot for out of town people. Yes, our local people to bring their out of town people too.

Cheryl Herdman: And they do.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: They do. Yeah. It's not something they just say. They're like, oh, hey, here's my dad that I was telling you about that loves crafts.

Vanessa: And that's like the absolute compliment. Like, it really is. That's fantastic.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: And one thing that I love this story about one of our local artists, um, Michael Sexton is one of our artists and he had posted on Facebook this little blip it of a couple pieces that he has in our Store. But he told the story about how he used to be in art school at Marshall and he would ride his bike downtown and he was like, I always thought how great it would be to have my work displayed in one of the places downtown. And now it is down here at Breathe. It just made us like, aww, you know.

Vanessa: Yeah, I love that.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: It felt good to be one of those places that he gets to showcase his art.

Jason Arthur: Absolutely. Being right there downtown, seeing it as.

Vanessa: You go by and see, I didn't realize that you guys had like. I mean, I knew obviously you're a retail space, but I didn't realize you had art and gifts and trinkets and stuff like that. Because I'm, I'm really big about going to the uh, Red Caboose. So. So now knowing that you guys have something similar, I'm like, woo, yay. New place to. New place to go. Buy gifts for everybody. And I'm a shopper.

Jason Arthur: So have you all thought about doing live music events and things there?

Cheryl Herdman: Um, we did some live music for our. For our one year anniversary.

Jason Arthur: Sure.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, so it's a little bit confusing because we're not a Dr. We don't. You can't drink.

Jason Arthur: Absolutely. Right.

Cheryl Herdman: We're a retail store, so I think a lot of people associate live music with sitting and.

Jason Arthur: Sitting and drinking.

Vanessa: Yes.

Cheryl Herdman: So we try not to confuse people with that. We try to just do what we do. And um, of course we love and support music. So one thing that we've done is we play local music in our store. Still encourage and support those efforts. Um, but just maybe not directly with local music unless it's a celebration or things like that.

Vanessa: Right, right, right, right.

Jason Arthur: Well, you're still keeping in touch with us.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: That's the main thing.

Vanessa: Do you guys find that, um, ninth Street Live helps with a lot of foot traffic or. No.

Cheryl Herdman: Um, I think if it ever would stop raining.

Vanessa: Right, right.

Cheryl Herdman: See how it goes. Um, you know, I think it's a great addition to downtown community. I don't know that it's, you know, of course, any foot traffic, anybody walking by or popping in, like sometimes they'll just come in to use the bathroom. Anybody popping in, somebody to see the place is a new eyes on the store. I'm never gonna be like, no, let's not do ninth Street Live. It's a great event and a great thing for our store. But it's not, you know, people are coming downtown to listen to music, maybe not shop that time. So it's not like a great. Doesn't Give us a whole lot more traffic, uh, or purchases or anything like that. But it's definitely helps us meet more people and it's something interesting going on.

Vanessa: See, I could picture you and Brandon. Hey, we're out of our drinks. Let's see if they sell glasses too.

Cheryl Herdman: The way the PODA works too, doesn't really line up. We're a retail store, so the PODA really doesn't apply to us.

Jason Arthur: Sure.

Vanessa: Gotcha.

Cheryl Herdman: Approved. Because, you know, obviously we're a store selling the same products.

Vanessa: Gotcha.

Cheryl Herdman: The point of is that those vendors that are established to downtown to sell those.

Vanessa: Right, right, right.

Jason Arthur: So to kind of take things on a different angle. Um, you know, if you over and do things differently at all, what would you change?

Cheryl Herdman: Not a thing.

Jason Arthur: Not a thing. Yeah, I knew you would say that because why fix something that's not broke?

Cheryl Herdman: I would clone Devin.

Vanessa: What a compliment. Yeah, absolutely.

Jason Arthur: That's good. And I can see that through the way you are emerging kind of up through the ranks very fast. People, um, just know who you are, you're doing a great job. And it's growing so fast. Sometimes I see businesses with that too. They'll grow so fast. I don't know what we're supposed to do here. Like I said, I wish I could clone her. So you start running out of good helpers and things to do. So I love that it's going so well, though. That's really good.

Vanessa: Absolutely, absolutely. Well, ladies, we have enjoyed having you. We always enjoy meeting new people. Um, is there anything that you want our listeners to know about your store that we haven't talked about? Or at least tell them where to find you guys on socials and, and things like that?

Jason Arthur: Yeah, absolutely.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, so physically we're at 335 Ninth street on the corner of Fourth and Ninth. Or the big building with lots of windows and the white column out front is what I like to tell people.

Vanessa: I was gonna say that's the kind of. The notable gives you a landfill.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Um, but just we're on Facebook is, uh, Breathe Wine and Culture, co Huntington, Same on Instagram and TikTok.

Vanessa: Actually, you guys got lucky getting that on all three platforms.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Right. So if you just Google Breathe, Wine and Culture or Facebook, you know, search it on any of those platforms, that's where we're at. But we're just two people.

Cheryl Herdman: You can message us, you can still send us a message on Facebook, which.

Vanessa: Very quick at replying. Very quick at replying.

Jason Arthur: See, that's that local connection you're not Walmart. You're not Kroger. You're talking to a person that said, hey, let me see what I can do for you to help you.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: If you message us, one of us will be the ones responding to you and fairly quickly. Unless we're absolutely, I don't know, chaotically running around the shop. People come in all the time and joke, oh, this, this table was here last time. And I call it the Breathe Shuffle. Because we are always in there rearranging.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: You know.

Jason Arthur: Yeah.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Um, yeah, we're just, we're just two people trying to get good wine and good craft beer in people's hands, you know?

Jason Arthur: Now we need good people to keep coming in and you'll be fine.

Devon Di Fillipo Reed: Exactly.

Vanessa: Well, we'll send people your way for sure. And I really, I really do think that this is going to help a lot of our, um, out of town town listeners plan some of their trips in. So I think that's fantastic.

Jason Arthur: All right, we greatly appreciate you all coming in.

Cheryl Herdman: Thank you so much.

Jason Arthur: Been a great time. We'll definitely be down more.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

Jason Arthur: All right, thank you all.

Vanessa: All right, Jason, we are out of here.

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