Date: Fri 28-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

business-Steve's-Liquor

Full Text:

Steve's Liquor Store Changes Hands

(with photo)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Steve Small has sold his business, Steve's Liquors, in Ricky's Shopping Center

on South Main Street and turned the keys over to the new owners, Don Gabriel

of Trumbull and his son, Don Gabriel, Jr.

Mr Gabriel has been in the liquor store business for 22 years and is a past

president and current member of the board of directors of the Connecticut

Package Store Association.

"I had been looking for a location closer to Trumbull where we could have a

family business," Mr Gabriel said. "I had been in business, with partners, in

the World of Wine in Darien and Town & Country in Derby.

"Newtown is a good market, a growing market, an area where the wine market is

good," he said.

Don Gabriel, Jr, is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence,

R.I., with an associates degree in food and beverage management, and the

University of New Haven, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business. For

the past five years he has worked with his father in the liquor business.

When Steve Small was approached by the Gabriels, he decided the time was right

to sell. After several weeks of negotiations, an agreement was reached. The

property officially changed hands on May 17.

Mr Small operated the Chestnut Pub in West Virginia before moving with his

wife, Sue, to Connecticut in 1986 to be nearer to her family. He purchased a

liquor store that was located in the spot where the Subway sandwich shop now

operates. Later he moved the business to larger quarters in the same shopping

center, then expanded it. For the past ten years he has written a wine column,

"Wine Wisdom" for The Bee .

An active supporter of the community, Mr Small sponsored volleyball and

softball teams and took part in many fund-raising events including the annual

Hospice Breakfast.

Mr Small said he hasn't decided what he will do now that he has sold his

business.

"I'm exporing other career options now," he said.