Wine Rack

the staff was nice to me when I was there. The product selection was great.

I’ll say up front: after a homophobic-​tinged, harassing exchange by an employee and the current manager (will she remain a manager after this?), I cannot recommend this WINE RACK.
I don’t say this lightly.
Unilocal fans – I think you can read my 7 years as an Elite Unilocal reviewer and judge that I am a fair and reliable witness. So please trust me when I say, WOW, I patronized this place for as long as it has been on the Danforth. What happened to me and my fellows on Oct 17, 2014 was abusive. I’m not kidding.
Rewind:
When this location first opened, I was happy. I got to know the first two managers with whom I could talk wine and the weather. I found it convenient and friendly.
That’s pretty much all we want from an Ontario wine merchant, right? That and some sweet samples.
Third manager comes along — let’s call her «Drawn-​on Eyebrows» or DOE– and all seems good. Samples, promos, whatever. It gots wine. And it’s convenient.
But then something happens. As in this. On this eve, an employee we’ll call Ex Marine Dude (aka EMD) and DOE actually *threaten my friends with police arrest* (!!!) and say inappropriate things to them like «You must not get laid too often» (!!!).
I AM NOT KIDDING.
Here’s the rest of the story:
It’s a Friday night; I’m a writer and I have writer friends over for dinner to talk about creative writing while enjoying a home cooked meal. Because my friends are awesome, Marion and Mike stopped at this WR, bought, and brought along a bottle of wine. Later, Julian (another student and writer like Mike and Marion) joins us in my home after he finished his shift at work.
As can happen, post-​dinner, we ran out of wine.
I say, hey, let’s get another bottle from The Wine Rack. My guests say, sure: J and Mike head back for another bottle. But then, things go very very wrong. Because unlike the first bottle of wine, my friends get hassled by Ex Marine Dude. For the purpose of insight to the following exchange, one should note that J is a beautifully-​out and easily identifiable as a gay man.
This is how the conversation went:
Unlike Marion and Mike’s earlier visit (when they bought wine with US issued ID cards), EMD and DOE refuse J and Mike’s ID cards. But not just that: ex-​Marine Dude gets in their face and tells them that their IDs are «fake».
After they try to persist with logic (Mike: But you sold me a bottle of wine two hours earlier with this same ID), DOE and EMD tell my friends they are calling the cops on them.
That’s right, calling the cops for being in their store while NOT BREAKING THE LAW.
In addition to a threat of arrest and the inappropriate comment «you must not get laid very often», here are some of the choice things said to them inside of the Wine Rack at 3003 Danforth:
When on the phone to the «cops», my friends were described as being «4 feet tall». Note that they are not anywhere close to being 4 feet tall.
Another inappropriate reference to their appearance was directed to my friend Mike. EMD informs M that J is «way better looking than you are.»
Really, can you be more homo-​aggro, dude?
And then Mike is taunted as «McLovin”» over & over.
And then manager Drawn on Eyebrows repeatedly asks J «Where is your Mom?»
After this crazytown treatment, my friends return to my home, sans wine, and tell me of this exchange. WTH?! This is my local Wine Rack! I say, this is totally insane and must be an anomaly, how could this be?!! I know this place and the management; this must be a rogue employee!
So wrong. So so very wrong.
We leave for the store, me all confident that I can talk reason with DOE, a manager who I have known for a year in a friendly customer/​manager relationship of a wine store I’ve patronized for a long time. But when we arrive, we are met on the sidewalk by a belligerent Ex Marine Dude and equally belligerent Drawn-​on-​Eyebrows. It was almost as though they were waiting for us.
I try to ask what happened and walk through the evening and am told by DOE that my friends «talked back» to them on the sidewalk? Seriously folks, they fairly JEERED at us. Drawn On Eyebrows yells, «They have fake IDs!» Ex Marine Dude strangely adds «I’ve lived in the States!». They refused a conversation with me/​us. I let DOE know that I didn’t intend to return. And that I would write about this experience here on Unilocal.She shrugged. I left frustrated and unhappy.
I’ve given this Wine Rack my loyal business for 3 years and then, after abuse, was told to go elsewhere with a shrug.
I wrote to the District Manager and was offered reassurance that this was being investigated and dealt with internally. He let me know that employees are NOT trained to tell customers that their IDs are «fake» or to act belligerently. He was actually pretty cool.
But until I know that DOE and EMD are gone from this locale, I can’t say that I will ever (EVER) be back. Or recommend that you visit this locale, either.