Wichita liquor store, whose home of 30 years will be demolished, finds new space
Back in December, Wichita learned that the building near 21st and Maize that has been home to Jacob Liquor West for nearly 30 years would be demolished to make way for a new 7 Brew drive-through coffee shop.
Now, Misha Jacob — a member of the family that owns Jacob Liquor’s two Wichita stores — is filling in details about where – and why — the store is moving.
Jacob Liquor’s new address, she said, will be just around the corner from its current home at 10221 W. 21st St. The store will be taking over the north end of the strip center that sits at 2110 N. Maize Road and that has Crispy Donuts as a tenant on the south end.
“We’re not leaving the neighborhood,” Jacob said. “That was really important for us to stay in that same neighborhood because we have an incredible customer base that is like our family, and we wanted to ensure that we were still there for them.”
Jacob West will likely have its final day at 21st Street later this week or early next, Jacob said, and the new store will open once a remodel is complete — likely sometime in June.
The new space is significantly smaller than the one at 10221 W. 21st St. where Jacob West operates now: The 21st Street building has about 9,000 square feet, where the one on Maize Road has about 2,800.
But Jacob said that she wants customers to know they’ll still be able to get everything they need at the new store. It will just stock fewer varieties of each item.
Store ownership looked at trends, Jacob said, and decided that a smaller space would serve its west-side customers’ needs better.
“They’re looking for products that fit the real moments in their lives. . . ‘I’m having a girls night on Friday. My daughter is getting married. I had a bad day, and I just want a bottle of red wine,’” Jacob said. “They’re not just, not just filling a cart but finding something that fits where they’re at in their life.”
Jacob said that a smaller space will let the store focus more on what it carries and how it presents those items. If customers can’t find exactly what they’re looking for, the store will be able to get it in, as long as it’s sold in Kansas.
“The space will be smaller, but that’s by design,” Jacob said. “For us, selection has never just been how many items can we squish on the shelf. It’s about whether what’s there is actually worth someone’s time.”
Jacob Liquor’s owners weren’t looking to move the west-side store, she said, but they were approached with an offer from the local 7 Brew franchisee, who wanted the address. The Jacob family, which owns the building, discussed whether it was the right time to move the store and how to best protect the legacy of Jacob Liquor founder, Tom Jacob, who died in 2021. (Misha Jacob is his daughter.)
In the end, they decided it was a good opportunity, she said.
The new west-side Jacob store will have space for a dedicated cigar humidor, just as the current one has, Jacob said.
“We’re going to continue to make that a priority,” she said. “We’ve really seen that grow with our west side customer base, and we want to be able to serve our customers with that complete experience.”
Nothing will change at the east-side Jacob Liquor Exchange, which is at 3049 N. Rock Road.
Connor Johnson, the managing partner of Wichita’s 7 Brew franchisee, recently said that he hopes to have the new 7 Brew at 21st and Maize open by September. The Jacob’s building will have to be demolished and removed so that a pre-fab 7 Brew building can be dropped on the site.
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