SMALL BUSINESS | Creekside Beverage Store owner brings liquor to Boardman

Local resident sees a business opportunity in the lack of beverage stores.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- When Dan Gallagher got his bachelor's degree in history, he assumed he would become a teacher. He didn't envision that one day he would own a successful beverage company.
After Gallagher graduated from Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., in 1988, he went into the insurance business. He began by working for Westfield Insurance, an Akron-based company, before starting his own business, Gallagher Insurance, in Boardman.
"My background had nothing to do with the beverage industry," said Gallagher, who opened Creekside Beverage in January 2002.
In the late 1990s Gallagher and his wife, Cindy, built their home off U.S. Route 224.
Gallagher said he noticed that there were few places nearby that sold beer and wine and decided he wanted to change that.
"Most people said, 'You can't do this. Boardman is dry,'" he said.
Before he could sell alcohol, he conducted a door-to-door campaign to get a liquor option passed in the November 2001 election. That measure allowed him to sell beer and wine in the township.
The following year, voters approved a measure that permitted Creekside Beverage to sell liquor that was 80 proof and higher, a move that made his business the first state liquor agency in Boardman.
Choosing a business
For a while, Gallagher ran both the insurance and beverage businesses. After more than a year, however, it became a hardship and he decided to give up the insurance business and devote his time to Creekside Beverage.
The store sells numerous brands of common and hard-to-get foreign and domestic beer and wine, as well as many types of vodka, liquor and other alcoholic beverages. The business has a 270-square-foot cooler that contains more than 150 brands of beer, and Creekside Beverage also sells a variety of sodas and snack foods.
Gallagher said the store also specializes in helping customers plan parties and weddings and that he offers free deliveries to weddings. His business also has a tasting license, which is a permit allowing him to sell small samples of beer and wine to customers so they can decide if a particular brand is what they want for a party or other occasion. Customers also can place a request for an item and he will try to get it in, Gallagher added.
Sunday sales
Gallagher said he is proud of his store's clean, wide and spacious arrangement, which gives it the look of a small warehouse or grocery store. The business also offers Sunday liquor sales, he pointed out.
Gallagher said his inventory continues to grow and that he's pleased with his store's location which, he said, "fills a market in Boardman and Canfield for higher-end wine products."
He also praised his 13 employees including Rina Glista, the store's manager, who's been in the wine business for more than 20 years. She is responsible for much of Creekside Beverage's pricing, inventory, ordering and customer service.
He added that Creekside Beverage's success and growth has caused him to reach out to the area.
"We donate money to charities, sponsor Little League teams and try to give back to the community," Gallagher said. "We help other organizations and fund-raisers."