Ironically, even amidst news of inflation causing everyone to tighten their purse strings, there have been increasing numbers of champagne bars sprouting up nationwide. There have always been pockets of the country that have dabbled in champagne bar concepts, especially in Northern California’s wine district regions and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods, as well as in Chicago and New York City. But this new champagne-themed tenancy trend seems to really be bubbling up lately and should continue throughout 2024.
These champagne bars tend to be in the 1,500- to 3,000-s.f. range and are generally situated on inline or end caps of retail street-front spaces, frequently as ground-floor units of mixed-use buildings in either urban settings or more bucolic tourist-driven destinations. Co-tenants can include treat-driven brands, such as Starbucks, Jamba or Häagen-Dazs, as well as entertainment-oriented venues, including Puttshack. Most champagne bars feature luxurious interiors and also serve bite-sized treats that have an air of refinement, such as caviar. The concept works well as an all-day dining tenant, serving customers from morning until the late-night hours. Many champagne bars offer additional community-building activities such as tasting events, live entertainment and art shows.
By the end of this month, Mon Cherie will open in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Flutes will have its debut in Orlando, Fla. Early 2024 will also see the second location for Fizz Champagne & Bubbles Bar in Walnut Creek, Calif., a concept that debuted its first establishment in Sacramento, Calif., in 2018. By this spring, the Westfield Topanga mall in Canoga Park, Calif., will be launching Pearl Champagne Bar in the new Topanga Social food hall that debuted last May. Also by spring, Pinky Promise, a champagne bar that will also feature live music, will have a location at Interlock, the new mixed-use development in the West Midtown neighborhood of Atlanta. Even Disney’s BoardWalk promenade within EPCOT at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Fla., is getting in on the trend with its announcement that The Cake Bake Shop, a bakery with two locations in Indiana, will open its doors in early 2024 and feature a champagne bar.
Late 2023 also saw its share of champagne bar developments, most notably the RH Guesthouse New York, the hotel in the Meatpacking District, which opened the Champagne & Caviar Bar in November. Within the next three years, a second RH Guesthouse in the U.S., which is still in development in Aspen, Colo., will also house a Champagne & Caviar Bar. In early December, Brooke’s Bubble Bar opened in Fredericksburg, Texas, which was the first brick-and-mortar offshoot of a popular local limousine wine tour, called Brooke’s Bubble Bus. Another Texas establishment specializing in serving champagne opened in Fort Worth in August, called The Coupe.
The founder of a champagne bar in Napa, Calif., called Be Bubbly Napa Valley, expressed interest in adding at least four more sites over the next few years in tourist-heavy locations such as Los Angeles, Houston and Miami. If this champagne bar trend continues on its current trajectory, expect to see more and more of these types of establishments popping up and spreading cheer all over the country.
