How did Harry’s come about, when did it open, who were the first owners?
The first owners were Harry and Betty Pollack, who opened the doors in 1941 - 80 years ago - right here on the plot of land that Harry’s currently sits on. At that time it was just a small liquor store with a potbelly stove right on the roadside that heated it up.
The second owner was Harry and Betty’s son, Saul Pollack, who took over the store after his father passed. Saul was also a wrestling coach at Staples High school. He retired from Harry’s in 2011 at 75 years old and sold the business. He sold it to a couple of longtime employees - myself and William Miller - and his son Scott Pollack.
To take the family business ties even further, Scott’s daughter Mia Pollack started working at the store just last year, making this a fourth generation family business.
The store has changed a bit through the years. We used to be right up on the road rather than a bit further back from the street as we are today. The only time Harry’s hasn’t been on the same plot of land was when they were constructing the new building that we are currently housed in. During that time we were across the street for about eight months. Other than that we have been on this property for 80 years this October!
How would you describe your employees to someone who has never been to Harry’s?
We are a yes ma’am no ma’am store. We have a very old school mentality, we are about education and inclusiveness, and I think that we are a very inviting store. When you walk into the store you feel like you are part of a community.
We invest in people, we try to build our model to build people. We have a professional wine staff; a professional spirit staff; a professional craft beer staff. We’re always looking to develop our people for the industry and we take great pride in having a program that takes people at any level of knowledge and improving that knowledge, especially when it comes to trends in the community.
We encourage them to use that knowledge, those pieces of insight learned here at Harry’s, to better serve our community and better understand our clientele needs. People who have questions about wine or beer or spirits can come to Harry’s and ask questions, have a real human conversation and get to the answers that best suit them.
That is a big part of who we are...
There are no bad questions, only really good answers. We are here to create an experience that cultivates a better understanding and knowledge of what to buy for any occasion - and most importantly why.
What makes Harry’s liquor a unique place in Fairfield, what makes it stand out from other liquor stores?
It is a combination of things, for one, there is no replacement for history. 80 years is a long time to be a part of this community. We have generational regulars. We’ll never forget where we came from and who helped us get to where we are today.
Our history is incredibly important to us. Being a part of the Fairfield community is such a key element of who and what we are for the past 80 years and for next 80 years. We try to be a very forward thinking store, we are always looking for ways to make our customers feel involved, connected, and satisfied.
For example, back in the 80s, we saw a trend coming into the marketplace. Wine. In the mid-80s people weren’t drinking that much wine, what they were drinking was more Gallo products, boxed wines, and things of that nature. We saw this and got serious about wines in the mid-80s and hung our hats there and we worked very hard to be a top wine shop not just in this town - or even the state - but in the country as a whole.
Another trend that we were very early on was the craft beer and single barrel bourbon whiskey movements. Throughout the years there have been a number of different trends and we have always taken great pride in leading our industry, but more importantly our community, into new and interesting tastes. That is one of our main separators. There are a lot of people who watch what we do and try to emulate it within their own business. It’s not easy.
What is your top selling product, today and in the past?
Harry’s is primarily a wine shop. About 65 to 70% of the business we do is wine. The popularity of things change over time and trends come and go. Things are always winding down a different path. What’s fashionable today I can’t promise will be fashionable tomorrow. About 10 to 12 years ago we saw the craft beer movement in Connecticut start to emerge and we saw a big trend and we were right: it exploded in popularity. Today I count almost 150 craft breweries just in the state of Connecticut.
We did a promotion, all summer long where we would have a Friday night beer tasting. Our beer and spirits Manager, Renzo, came up with the idea of highlighting only Connecticut breweries. At that time there were just a handful of them, but he really thought that this was going to be something that was going to make its mark. He went out and got to know the owners of these breweries, supported the guys and gals that were thinking about getting involved with the craft beer movement. This is something that really helped to build the Connecticut craft beer movement and we are proud to have been a part of it for the Fairfield community.
So the long and the short is that our top selling products are what satisfies our customers best.
Harry’s has a give back to the community approach, what are some examples?
There are a lot of things that we do to give back quietly behind the scenes with organization in our town, and then we also have other approaches where we try and get the community and the town involved.
I’ll give you an example of some promotions that we have done recently:
For the past six years we have done a rare bourbon promotion in the month of October which is the month that we celebrate our anniversary. For some bourbon background, rare bourbons have a retail price and then there is a secondary market price. A lot of people buy these bourbons and then turn around and sell them for a much higher price. Harry’s has been in the game for a very long time so we get a great allocation of these fine bourbons. We found that we were handing bottles to people that were just turning and selling them and putting the money in their pockets. We wanted to find a way to combat that, but also so that it was a win-win for everyone involved. So we started a promotion where we would take a bottle with a retail price of $100 but a secondary market price of $1000. We priced our bottle at $600, and the person buying it would pay the asking price with the knowledge that we would take the first $100 to keep our lights on, but the other $500 dollars would go to a charity here in Fairfield called Operation Hope that does a lot of really wonderful things for our community. It is a win-win for everyone - the customer gets access to a great bottle of bourbon, as well as a tax write off, and we get to contribute to our community. The first year we did this we raised about $15,000 dollars. Through the years it has gained notoriety and popularity to the point that last year, in 2020, we gave more than $21,000 to Operation Hope through this promotion with about 70 or 80 bottles of bourbon.
Another example was this past year during quarantine all the restaurants had shut down or were doing curbside pickup or delivery only. We went around to 53 different local restaurants each day and would pick a different place every time and buy 25 to 30 meals and bring them down to the local soup kitchen. This was something that not only helped our local business but also really gave hope to the people who aren’t as lucky as you or me.
I keep saying it, but it’s true, we are so proud to call ourselves members of the Fairfield community and we are always looking for ways to partner and give back to that community that has given us so much.
What is your favorite wine or liquor in the store, what would you recommend to someone?
When people ask me this question, I respond by asking another question: Who is your favorite child or parent?
What I am trying to get at is that it is an incredibly hard question to answer because in our industry things are always changing and evolving, especially in our specialty of wine. Last year’s vintage from Tuscany is not the same as this year’s vintage from Tuscany. The same goes for Bordeaux or Burgundy or Napa Valley. It’s always evolving, it’s always changing. What I would give you for an answer today might be a very different answer next week or next month - and certainly next year - because it really does always change. This is one of the things that makes our industry so passionate. You love them all, but you’re always looking for what’s next.
Are there any plans for Harry’s in the future that you want people to know about?
We have some surprises in store for 2021, especially in our anniversary month in October we will be doing some special promotions. We are looking forward to celebrating with our community throughout 2021 as well as looking for any new and emerging trends.
We would like to get out there. We are very proud to be part of the Fairfield community, and we look forward to serving this community as we have for the last 80 years long into the future, for future generations.