“Working In The City” is The San Diego Sun’s feature Q&A series with downtown San Diego business operators. It’s a way to get to know the city by meeting the people who work here. This is the 12th in an ongoing series.
Company: Quigley Fine Wines (1551 Fourth Avenue, Cortez Hill).
What we do: We’re importers and producers of fine wines from around the world. We focus on small production, high-quality wines, many from families whose winemaking history goes back centuries. We have a Tasting Room on Fourth and Cedar where people can taste and buy wines not available in retail outlets anywhere else in the U.S.
Specialty: Connecting wine drinkers to rare and wonderful wines without the middlemen (wholesalers, distributors, retailers, etc.).
About the business: We started in 2009, have been downtown since 2011 and at our current location since 2014. This was a two-family start-up business, with my wife Chrissy and me, and Jeff and Mary Shapiro, as founders. We all feel like family and run this place with the love and care of a family business. That mirrors most of the wineries we import from.
Owner/Manager: Co-owner Brendan Quigley. We started the business in South Park and now live in Bay Park. The commute to Cortez Hill is less than 10 minutes.
Employees: 14
Finding staff: We’ve been lucky and found a terrific staff of people who enjoy working downtown.
Company pet/mascot: Jeff and Mary have a Dachshund named Annie who’s often here sipping water while we sip wine. Chrissy and I have a mixed-breed dog named Maggie who does not come in often (but would feel left out if we didn’t include her!).
Company motto: Give wine drinkers direct access from vineyard to table.
Regulars: The residents of our building, Solara Lofts, come down to taste and drink. It’s an easy “commute” for them!
Best aspects of working downtown: We love being part of this vibrant community where we can meet fellow wine lovers. Being close to great restaurants and bars, as well as Petco Park and Balboa Park, are also exciting parts of owning a business downtown.
Worst aspects of working downtown: Sometimes the homeless situation is very challenging in regard to the amount of litter and trash on downtown streets, which we noticed became worse after the pandemic.
Homelessness: I’m very sympathetic. It’s sad that people, who more often than not are battling mental illness, are left to fend for themselves—in a city like San Diego with so much tax revenue. It does make running a business downtown challenging. We can’t prop our doors open during business hours to take advantage of the cool bay breezes.
Parking: Not too bad. Our neighborhood is far enough away from the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy so that street parking or public pay lots has never been difficult.
Scariest downtown work memory: We had a bread truck run a red light and crash into the fire hydrant outside our building. The truck missed coming through the front door by only a few yards. However the fire hydrant exploded and water came streaming into the tasting room under the doors.
Business friendliness of the city, on a scale of 1 (easiest) to 10 (hardest): We have not experienced remarkable issues or hassles with the city on permits. The city could help by keeping the streets and sidewalks MUCH cleaner, and by providing housing to our many homeless people in need of help.
Favorite downtown business that isn’t yours: We love Cucina Urbana and Azuki Sushi (two great restaurants on Fifth Avenue). Topnotch food at both places that allow us to bring in wine to enjoy with lunch or dinner.
Celebrity sightings: As far as I know we have not had any. I would LOVE to invite any Padres players to come in and taste our wines! SDSun
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