Brion McGroarty breaks ground on new airport package store

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Father and son, Brion (the younger) and Brion (the older) McGroarty waited for the backhoe Wednesday morning on the site of their new package store. — Photo by Ralph Stewart

By the fall, Edgartown businessman Brion McGroarty expects to move his year-round package store Town Provision Company, lock, stock, and wine bottle from its cramped location on Mayhew Lane in downtown Edgartown to a new, expanded and renamed package store located off the entrance road to Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

On Wednesday, Mr. McGroarty broke ground on the new shop that will be built as an addition to Flatbread restaurant. The new building will be set on a 2,700 square foot footprint.

“It’s really a relocation,” Mr. McGroarty told The Times in a telephone conversation Tuesday. “I’ve been in business for 23 years in downtown Edgartown and we are just relocating out there.”

He said the new location will provide considerably more space than his current 300-square-foot shop tucked off the beaten path, and ample parking. Another reason for the change is family. “To have something to pass down, we needed a bigger store,” he said.

Mr. McGroarty wants to bring his son, also named Brion, on board. “He’s spent the last ten years since getting out of college in the supplier side of the business,” Mr. McGroarty said. “He’s worked for Massachusetts wholesalers in the beer and the wine end of the business. He’s been well trained by others.”

An Oak Bluffs resident and former owner of the Wharf restaurant on Main Street in Edgartown, he said the additional space would allow him to stock a wider selection and take advantage of pricing deals to pass on to customers.

It has been a long regulatory and permitting takeoff, almost two years. Although the new store will be connected to the Flatbread building, Mr. McGroarty said they share a building but no business relationship.

The last permitting hurdle will be a request for a change of location. Mr. McGroarty said the move will be accompanied by a new name. “We plan to change the name of the store to MV Wine and Spirits,” he said.