Old Town Square in Wichita will lose two of its longest running businesses next month
Old Town Square in Wichita is about to lose two of its longtime businesses, neither of which was able to fully recover after the pandemic, their owner says.
Both Beyond Napa, an upscale wine store that Don Siedhoff and wife Ruthanne Timm-Siedhoff opened in 2008, and the couple’s next door Pinot’s Palette paint-and-sip business, will close in July. Pinot’s Palette, which opened in 2015, will offer its last classes on July 2, and Beyond Napa will close in mid- to late July.
Timm-Siedhoff said that she and her husband plan to retire. It was a hard decision, she said, but they’re not sure what else to do. Supply chain issues have affected their ability to get wine since the pandemic, and prices for art supplies like canvases have risen dramatically with inflation, and she says she can’t justify charging more for the Pinot’s Palette paint classes.
It didn’t help that so many people who worked in downtown and Old Town never returned to their offices after the pandemic, which meant less foot traffic for the wine store.
“We certainly have never had a huge selection,” she said of Beyond Napa. “We always had a really fine selection. But I think people’s habits changed. When Old Town closed and more people worked from home, there was less traffic downtown, and people developed habits. I think they now go to stores with larger selections.”
What’s also been hard, Timm-Siedhoff said, is telling her longtime staff members and customers about the closings. One of her Pinot’s Palette regulars recently told her with tears in his eyes how much joy the shop had brought to his life.
“It breaks my heart,” she said.
Beyond Napa will begin discounting its wine and liquor to move it out before closing day, she said. People who have gift cards to Pinot’s Palette, which is part of a national chain, can use them at stores in Olathe and Leawood in the Kansas City area or in Tulsa.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 10:23 AM.
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