Big River Spirits’ Sam Dumas, Sales, and Vik Patel, Owner.

Big River Spirits
6 Nooseneck Hill Road
West Greenwich, RI

Square footage: 2,700

Years in operation: 7 years

By Sara Capozzi

Immigrating to the U.S. with his family at just 2 months old, Vik Patel grew up working in his family’s convenience and general store in New Jersey. When seeking to invest in his own business endeavor, he found what he was looking for at Big River Spirits in West Greenwich.

“I’ve always helped out at the family businesses throughout my life,” Patel said. “I’ve always been a people person working in retail and sales. I saw an opportunity in a different industry, trying to get out of what we were already into, and this was always of interest, so the opportunity arose and I jumped at it and it was a good start. It’s been seven years now and I’m happy with the industry. It’s definitely a successful industry and kind of recession-proof in a sense.”

Patel purchased the store in 2017 and relocated from New Jersey to Rhode Island with his family. There were many perks to Big River, especially that it was already an established package store. Patel purchased Big River from Sam Dumas, who owned the shop for 13 years and has stayed on to work in sales, bringing his own expertise from years managing multiple stores in the area.

Upon reflecting on how he has seen the industry change over the last few decades, Dumas said, “It always changes all the time. COVID-19 changed it measurably.” He noted that during the pandemic, customers became more interested in rare and allocated bourbons in lieu of indulging in high-end spirits at restaurants.

“We get a bunch of people that are hunting for bourbons,” Dumas said. “That’s the big trend now. Top-end bourbons are really hard to find and we get a bunch of people that shop around other places and look to see what we have.”

Shoppers from out of town who visit the area throughout the summer and those visiting Big River Management Area (a nature park that the store is named after), Caldwell’s campgrounds and the nearby lake often stop in seeking allocated items as well. The town population triples in size during the summer due to tourists, but Patel said he still considers Big River a neighborhood store, noting that 90% of customers are locals. He said the store offers competitive prices and the staff doesn’t hesitate to special order items for when asked, features clientele can appreciate.

Patel said he has seen wine sales decrease significantly with the increased popularity of craft cocktails. “It’s always something new coming out, something exciting that people are looking forward to trying,” he said. Nips are also top sellers and “are great for introducing people to new products.”

A big plus is its convenient location—central off I-95—and recognizing the value of community. “The location is key over here where people come off the highway going home and into town and they stop in, grab what they need for the house and go home … We see a lot of regulars and develop a lot of relationships with the locals,” Patel said. “I have plenty of people that talk with me about life. Nothing to do with business. That’s the beauty of this industry—you get to develop those relationships.”