Beverages & More Inc.,[5][6] doing business as BevMo!, is an American retail chain focusing on the sale of alcoholic drinks.

store, citing possible effects ranging from small business decline to increased traffic patterns.

Wong keeps a blog on the company's website, and helped establish "Vineyard Partners", an in-house label composed of wines that are specially blended for the retailer.

stores cater to the community by having weekly beer and wine tasting for a nominal charge, in line with state law, to any consumer of legal age.

Expansion into the states of Nevada and Florida led to Hudson and Executive Vice President David Richards closing those stores in 1998.

In court, Glenn Sobel did not deny that he was in the business of selling domain names, and that his company had never been known as "beveragesandmore".

[15] Earlier, consumers had been calling the chain "BevMo" as a nickname; as a result, the corporation registered the domain www.bevmo.com in August 2000.

[18] In February 2009, Alan Johnson was made CEO and he named Charlotte Russe's Dan Carter as CFO and Bare Escentuals' Maria Devries as head of operations.

[3] Johnson said that the company would be expanding into other states, and that the ideal store would be a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) location sited on a corner with 100 feet (30 m) of street frontage, dedicated parking, and upscale demographics.

In March 2010 in Santa Barbara, California, a group voiced opposition at a city board meeting, delaying approval of a BevMo!

The city's Architectural Board of Review member Paul Zink recommended against BevMo!

's plans to have pedestrians cross a parking lot to enter the store, saying that "there's a tie-in between what's inside and the street".

Sarkis Abdulhi, a liquor store owner, asked, "how can a politician say they support small business when they bring in giant chains?

"[20] Area resident Trudy Fernandez said the opening of chain location "takes away from what people like me who have been in Santa Barbara 40 years came here for.

Wong, a veteran industry analyst and wine writer who has written regular columns for Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and Beverage Industry News, tastes some 8,000 bottles a year for BevMo!,[22][23] and may taste 40 wines a day.

"[24] Wong made assurances that he does not treat a wine to a good score based on company founders' wishes.

[24] Executive VP David Richards agrees: "If we were to impinge on Wilfred's credibility, it would be very bad for our brand.

"[25] Professor Emeritus Robert Smiley, Director of Wine Studies, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, said about Wong's ratings: "I think this is a good innovation and he's helpful to the consumer.

"[25] Smiley said that shoppers were too smart to be fooled: "If Wilfred and BevMo fix the ratings, people will catch on and go elsewhere.

[22] His personal favorites to drink are French wines such as second- and third-growth Bordeaux reds, and California Pinot noir from the Russian River Valley.