Taste Unlimited turns 35 this month

By Rita Frankenberry

The Virginian-Pilot

When Peter Coe was scouting around for places to open a wine and cheese shop 35 years ago, he considered Connecticut and New York before settling on Hampton Roads.

At the time, Coe said, state laws in the two states prohibited wine and cheese from being sold in the same store. Their loss was this region's gain.

Since Coe opened his first local shop more than three decades ago, Taste Unlimited has thrived and turned into a regional chain. The gourmet food and wine shop, which now has six Hampton Roads stores - including at 1619 Colley Ave. in Norfolk's Ghent section - will be celebrating its 35th anniversary Nov. 30.

Over the years, area residents have become regulars of the gourmet food and wine shop. When the first store opened in Virginia Beach's Hilltop West in November 1973, the store's inventory set it apart from existing food markets at the time.

"In those days, grocery stores didn't have a competitive inventory like they do today," Coe said. "Nobody was able to buy real Parmesan cheese in 1973.

"The Parmesan cheese you bought in 1973 came in a green can and had Kraft on it. We had 150 different cheeses and over 500 wines, and everybody was excited."

Customers who walked into the Hilltop store that opening day saw a 220-pound wheel of Swiss cheese, a peanut butter-making machine, burlap bags of coffee beans lining the floor and a wide assortment of cheeses being cut by hand.

During those early years, Coe said, he remembers offering cheese samples to parents who would come in with their young children.

These days, he's seeing those young faces again.

"They'd come in with their parents, and now," Coe said, "they're our customers."

Two years ago, Coe sold the business to Jon Pruden, but he hasn't retired from the shop yet. He still busies himself finding new wines for the stores, and keeps his eyes peeled for new products he thinks will do well.

Coe said understanding of the local market helped him survive tough economic climates over the past 35 years.

"One of the reasons we were successful is we didn't try to be New York," he said.

"We would bring in Iranian caviar, but only at Christmas. We didn't go crazy with this stuff. We understood the market and didn't try to make the market something it wasn't."

Several years after opening, after realizing a need to bulk up the chain's offerings, Coe also began offering sandwiches on freshly baked breads with the store's own house dressings.

"It wasn't part of the concept in the beginning," Coe said, adding that the need to constantly evolve was another lesson he learned about business survival.

"The mix has changed," he said, "as the world has changed."

Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com