Scott Brady, General Manager; Posey Smith, President; and Dave Schaad, Assistant Manager.

Urban Wine & Spirits
650 Branch Avenue
Providence, RI

Square footage: 6,200

Years in operation: 5 years

By Sara Capozzi

Established in 2019, the team at Providence’s Urban Wine & Spirits works tirelessly to provide a unique shopping experience to clientele with its best-in-class customer service, competitive pricing and a fun atmosphere. The shop is owned by Posey Smith, who began in 2019 as its Office Manager and Bookkeeper, going on to purchase the shop in March 2023.

According to Smith, the retail space on Branch Avenue has been a liquor store for more than four decades. When Smith and her team took over the shop five years ago, they embarked on a complete rebranding, revamping its inventory while bringing in a knowledgeable sales team. “We brought in almost 3,600 new SKUs across all categories,” she said. “We put staff in place that could talk about bourbon, craft beer and wine, which was something that categorically didn’t exist before. Customers loved the attention to detail and a well-lit, clean store and responded in kind. We kept using the phrase that we were ‘elevating the conversation.’ Our prices were also unparalleled and providing that value to customers was important to us and for us.”

The team also began to focus more on wine than the store’s previous owner, bringing the category’s sales up from 15% to 26% to 28% of the shop’s overall market share. As far as trends, Smith said, “Obviously, a lot of focus is on canned cocktails, but we are currently working to provide the largest selection of tequila in the state.”

Customers hail from the city of Providence and the surrounding towns of Lincoln and Smithfield, with the busy thoroughfares of Branch Avenue and Route 146 bringing in plenty of shoppers each day. For added draw, Urban offers discounts on its Friar Fridays to Providence College students of legal age.

Urban owes its success to its ability to listen to customers and provide them with a positive shopping experience. “Our customers are everything,” Smith said. “We provide value [to them]. We treat them well; we respect them and give them extraordinary service because we want them to come back. They have almost 240 liquor stores to choose from in a very small market and hundreds more within 5 miles of the border. We want to give them every reason to come back to Urban Wine & Spirits.”

Smith is also in the process of expanding the store’s retail square footage by annexing space from a back storeroom. Perks like shopping and delivery through Urban’s website, in-store tastings, special orders and a rewards program add appeal. She and her team have carved out a niche with their philosophy on pricing. “I think we are consistent in a manner that many retailers aren’t,” Smith said. “We don’t elasticize prices. We put our best foot forward every day on price, which is often lower than other retailers’ ‘sale’ pricing, on service and selection. We make a point to follow through. It’s incredible, particularly in 2024, how rare this is.”

Urban also goes above and beyond to serve its clientele. In September 2023, the store and its shopping plaza on Branch Avenue flooded after heavy rainfall caused the nearby West River to overflow. Urban had almost 2 feet of water inside but still remained open for customers in the days following the ordeal.

“We never closed,” Smith remembered. “We were open by 7 a.m. the next morning, pushing water out with brooms. We got back up and continued to get back up. We were the only store open in the plaza for some time and it speaks to the strength of the store and the loyalty of our customers that we have continued to operate and are seeing growth again … Urban Wine & Spirits doesn’t give up. After all, if we had to take a kayak to get you a bottle, we would.”