The Wine Bank

The Wine Bank stares across the street at Cheers West in University Place. It’s easy to miss unless you’re looking up as you round the bend in the road (keep your eyes on the road, man!). After safely parking, venture in and spend a while.
Owners Bob Kinnaman and Bob Watson, “the wine guys,” are welcoming and knowledgeable. Since opening the day before Thanksgiving 2005, they’ve had plenty of time to acquire a wide selection of diverse and rotating wines as well as openers, stemware, and fun wine related gadgets and treats. If the Wine Bank doesn’t carry a particular wine, Bob will find it for you.
Besides writing a weekly newsletter announcing new wines and specials, they’ve come up with a rather smart way to garner loyal customers — receive a healthy 15 percent discount by joining their wine club. Nice.
The Bobs also hold a free weekly wine tasting on Saturdays. The Oct. 13 tasting focuses on four different French wines. I’m grabbing a couple or three bottles of Languedoc Domaine Piquemal 2004 Cotes des Catalan Cuvee Audonnet (under $20), a blend of merlot, grenache, and syrah. Ahhh yeah. Call to get in on Saturday’s tasting.

[Wine Bank, 7017 27th St. W., University Place, 253.564.1101, www.winebankup.com]

Grocery Store Outlet

Grocery Store Outlet is the best word-of-mouth prize out there. They carry the same stuff as chain grocery stores — bread, wine, cheese, beer, eggs, laundry soap, plastic wrap, frozen pizza, ice cream, hand towels, candles, lunch meat, plates — but for tons less dinero.
A real favorite is hitting the beauty product isle. Expensive shampoos, conditioners, hot oil treatments, razors, Q-tips, cotton balls, shaving cream; it’s all there but cheap. My latest big score: triple-milled French bath soap for $1.99. For those not soap-savvy, this is a big deal. Normally Savon et Cie soaps run between $6 and $8 depending on where you shop. And the bars are twice the size of others, made in Provence, France, with shea butter, 100 percent pure vegetable oils (no animal anything), natural ingredients like lavender, chamomile, vanilla bean, green tea, wild rose, aloe, leaves, herbs, minerals, and fragrances from the perfume capitol of the world, Grasse. I bought a slightly ridiculous number of soap bars (felt like I was hoarding before a war).

Farther on in the store is the recently expanded produce and meat section — grab up packages of romaine hearts ($1.99 for three compared to $1.99 for one at other stores), roma tomatoes, avocados, grapes, whole pineapples.
Soap and salad — nice!

[Grocery Store Outlet, 6425 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.2441]