ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 After five-and-a-half years in business, a St. Petersburg wine bar has closed for good.<\/p>\n
CellarMasters, a retail shop and lounge at 1005 1st Ave. N. that specialized in natural wines, announced its closure in an Instagram post<\/a>on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry folks, due to less than financially viable pass-thru and patronage\u2026 we out. Thanks for the party time, truly but!, also think about your commitments to others in the future \u2026 [because] it means the world to them and their employees,\u201d owner Ryan Rugg wrote.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cReally sorry I failed you all\u2026 won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n In the post, he also included the dates that CellarMasters was open. It opened on May 20, 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The post indicated that its last day in business was Oct. 15 of this year.<\/p>\n Rugg confirmed the business\u2019 closure to the Tampa Bay Times and said it never bounced back following back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no one thing to blame, but after the hurricanes last year, you know, I lost a lot of clientele,\u201d he told the Times<\/a>. \u201cThe numbers are going down, and not up, and it doesn\u2019t seem to matter what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n An outpouring of appreciation was left in the comments on Rugg\u2019s Instagram post.<\/p>\n \u201cYou built something worthwhile and have years of memories of amazing nights with wonderful people,\u201d St. Pete Ferments wrote.<\/p>\n Another follower wrote, \u201cCellars will forever be in our hearts, cellars was such an integral part of the community constantly helping everyone, going above and beyond, even creating space for different chefs to host pop-ups, truly one of a kind! You will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another Instagram user called the closure a \u201chuge bummer,\u201d adding, \u201cToo many businesses closing in St. Pete and this might be the worst loss yet.\u201d<\/p>\n In a description on the Cellarmasters website<\/a>, Rugg wrote that the bottle shop and lounge sold \u201cwines like no other,\u201d calling it \u201ca comfortable space with three different and unique areas … No wine list so you gotta talk to us but we\u2019re damn good at it so don\u2019t stress. Come party with us and drink better wine at a better price than Big Brand garbage\u2026we promise it ain\u2019t scary, it\u2019s easy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We Out\u2019: St. Pete Wine Shop And Lounge Closes For Good<\/a> originally appeared on the St. Pete Patch<\/a><\/p>\n