Total Wine & More

Great selection. Terrible service. Bought a growler and was told by the employee filling it that I could, «buy the beer and return the empty bottle for a refund whenever you want». Seemed a little odd but I verbally confirmed with the employee several times while waiting the 20 minutes for her to fill it (yes it took 20 minutes) that I could return the bottle for money. Of course when I tried to do so, the manager looked at me like I was from Mars. Was nice enough to offer the refund anyway but I felt like an idiot enough so I left. Bummer.

First I’ll start with my critique:
I stick by my five-​star review, I’m really happy with this place, but Kennly’s review talking about the Wine Tasting — I feel like I had a similar experience with that as well. While for the most part my service has been great, the Wine Tasting in particular felt like it was pandering to customers who appeared older/​wealthier. That’s their prerogative I suppose, when selling wine, but it was off-​putting, especially because I was there to spend money, not just look around and try free wine.
I believe I have noticed a bit of carding frenzy when I was there, especially with customers who appear young or who some of the staff don’t immediately recognize. On the one hand, I can totally see where this would be irksome to your experience. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure you could repeat that kind of experience at most of the smaller liquor stores in town, mainly because of the liability of selling to minors and etc — so I can see why they do it. It hasn’t been a problem for me.
Now, the good stuff, and why I give 5 stars:
Fantastic selection and prices, always staff available to answer questions, they’re always open when I think about stopping by… really no complaints here.
For me, this place has been a wonderful store to sate my curiosity. They have an amazing selection and quite a few samplers to choose from. I grabbed a bottle of King’s Mead there this week, just because I’d been curious about mead and hadn’t been able to find it elsewhere.
The staff recommendations have always worked out well for me, and they don’t bias their recommendations to sell the more expensive stuff. Staff recommendations, whether directly from the staff member or from the little cards on the shelves, have resulted in a damn good experience trying a new Moscato, Bourbon, Canadian or Irish Whiskey.
As a prudent shopper, I’ve compared prices with Walmart and some of the local smaller liquor stores in town and Total Wine usually comes out as cheaper or pretty much equal, on most products. I still shop at my local liquor store when I know what I want, but Total Wine has become my favorite place to try new things by taking advantage of their selection, samplers, and recommendations.

Started with 24 beers on tap, then 16, now only 10 taps in use the last few weeks. Staff tells me manager has a plan? Not worth the drive over if no selection.

I’m really disappointed that the customer service has gone so downhill in the last few months. We came in today to pick up a bottle of Hendricks, only to find out they were sold out.
We decided to do their wine tasting and the guy manning the wine pouring station made eye contact with me, then looked away and I had to ask several times if we could do a tasting.
He said sure, asked to see some ID and then we could get started, and once we showed him our IDs, ignored us to greet other guests and offered them samples. We finally decided to just try a few since it was hell trying to get his attention.
We picked up some other things and headed to checkout, and I decided I should probably run to the bathroom since it would be quite a bit longer before we headed home, and asked where it was. The cashier I asked must have been new because she didn’t know where it was, but the cashier on the next station said it was in Aisle 16. No one pointed me in any direction to where Aisle 16 was supposed to be, but I headed towards where I thought it was, only to be stopped by yet another employee, Sandi, who asked for my ID. I was confused (not to mention trying not to pee), as I didn’t think using the bathroom counted as heading into a bar, but pulled out my ID to show her. She then yelled over to the cashier, «It’s ok, she’s my age» and then walked past me, laughing with the other cashier. I can’t believe this lady is a manager here.
First of all, you don’t make comments about people’s age when looking at their ID. It is rude, unprofessional, and totally inappropriate.
Secondly, why would you card someone who just wants to go to the bathroom? We had already been carded when we were tasting wines.
I have spent a lot of money at this store over the last 2 years, from wine and beer classes to buying alcohol, but I will not go back after this poor customer service.

I work in the mall and me and a few co workers decided that we should go check this place out on our lunch! I wasn’t on planning on buying anything so I left my purse and wallet in my locker at the store.(this detail will become important later)
When we walked in I was just amazed on how big it, pretty cool place! Lots of options and fun to look at everything they have! A coworker found a bottle of wine she wanted to buy her dad, so we headed up to the register and I decided I wanted a bag of Tim’s cascade chips (my fave!!)
They had one lane open that my friend with the wine went to, and then another employee signaled for me to come to her lane she just opened. She scanned my chips and then asked for ID, I told her I didn’t have it, and she was just about to explain to that everyone needed ID to be in there. Which I totally agree with, I was more than willing to walk back to my store and grab it! But what made me rate this establishment a one star (I wish it could be no starts at all) was the employee that was ringing up my friend with the wine. She decided to step out from behind her register and cut off the employee that was ringing me up, and say «yeah you guys need to have IDs and be over 21 to be in here.» Proceeds to point her fingers at me and another coworker of mine and say «and I’m pretty sure you two aren’t even old enough to be in here»
I completely understand the need to stop minors from being able to purchase at this establishment, but she did not have to be out right rude and disrespectful to paying customers. So we told her ok we’ll be right back with our IDs…
We were gone for about 5 mins came back, and what do you know she had put back all of the items we were going to buy, she didn’t even let my friend buying the wine for her dad purchase, she had her ID, we weren’t even buying our stuff together. But yeah she puts away our items assuming we weren’t coming back, so I flaunted my ID in front of her face proving that I was over 21 so I could buy my damn chips!
She then had the nerve to say to us” oh thank you so much ladies for bringing your IDs it helps out so much“
Yeah I know it does, but you don’t have to be rude, go take a customer service class and learn how to treat customers. She shouldn’t call anybody out like that in front of other customers. Pretty positive her name was Susan? I think she was the wine manager?
Moral of the story? Remember your ID, especially if you happen to look younger, or you’ll get ridiculed and humiliated in public by a cashier!

Christmas tradition, gotta keep it alive!
Stopped by the newer Total Wine in Olympia to stock up for our Xmas in Tenino! This place can never disappoint! Beers, liquor and wine for the alcoholics in your life! ;)
We always buy my Uncle a 6 pk of 22oz Craft beers, and this is the place where we go for the best selection! (My uncle lives in Dubai and doesn’t have the luxury of craft beers!)
Not only do they have aisles full of single beers, they also have 4,6,12 packs available as well. Their prices can’t be beat! I got a Sierra Nevada 12 pack of holiday brews for $ 12.99. Generally at Fred Meyer they run around $ 14-​$ 16.
Their selection is out of this world!
If you enjoy Craft brews, liquor, wine… or hell, even cigars; Total Wine & More has got you covered!

Their beer is definitely cheaper than the average grocery store and with so much more selection. For liquor, they actually have the price after taxes so you don’t have a surprise at the register.
The employees here are genuinely helpful and have a crazy amount of knowledge. Any question I’ve had was answered almost immediately without sending me to go ask someone else. The cashiers have struck up conversations with me every single time, and I’ve never waited in a line. I’ve yet to do any of the tastings but I look forward to doing so!

This place has just about everything. It’s a bit overwhelming, but every time I have been here there has been a lot of helpful staff around, so if you’re looking for something specific they can find it for you.
One thing I didn’t realize is that they also have a fairly large humidor, with a wide variety of cigars. They also have snacks, and TONS of «airplane» bottles of liquor. I will be coming here for adult stocking stuffers ’round the holidays.

I was very impressed with the selection of beer here, and if your a wine drinker (Which Im not) then this is a must stop as they have a awesome selection of wine and a very good selection of hard alcohol.
The other thing I liked– UNLIKE BevMo and not allowing single sales for bottles that came from six packs, They had no problem here in allowing you to break the 6 packs so can have a single bottle. (I dont want to buy a 6 pack or more of whatever if I’ve never tried it before)
The Customer service here also UNLIKE Bevmo was real good and friendly, so overall was VERY pleased with this place and would highly recommend them!

Lots of wine. Lots of beer. Lots of cigars. Great prices. What else can I ask for? This place is awesome! They don’t have everything, but they have something for everyone. The only little nitpick is: why not have a door directly from the mall? It is necessary to walk outside of the mall to get to the entrance, but I’m willing to brave cold temps to locate my favorite beer, cigars, and wine.

Just a quick update that I’ve been meaning to add… they must read and listen to these reviews because they NOW carry an awesome array of sour ales, including Petrus Red. Two thumbs up! Now, if they could just fix their complex keg system to allow tastings, this place would be perfect!

I love Total Wine. This location is OK in terms of craft brew selections, but only because it is a smaller store (compare to the giant one in Tukwila). However, I have not had a problem finding those random, rare beers that I love. They also seem to be good at rotating selections, since there are new types and brands every time I visit. I think that the best thing about this store is the 25 beers on tap. Yes, 25. And they rotate, which is amazing as well. The kind of fancy tap system they have here doesn’t allow for tasting, but apparently preserves the taste of the beer longer. Sometimes I have a hard time finding a beer that I want on tap, but only because I despise IPA’s and anything that tastes like battery acid. They carry predominately IPS’s on tap, but they seem to be rotating more non-IPA’s which I approve!
Anyway, this is your go-​to place for beer and wine. They have all of the most random specialty brews and vinos at an amazing price. The liquor selection is pretty good too, but I refuse to buy liquor in Washington, so I don’t spend any time in those aisles. They also have frequent wine and beer tastings (and some liquor ones every so often) plus they have beer and wine classes too!

I died and went to wine heaven! This place is massive and the staff are very helpful and informative. We wondered around for an hour and picked up a good selection of vino and hard a. They also sell mixers and glasses. Great place!

Alvin Toffler would have loved this place. Overload. Especially for someone used to Washington’s little liquor stores. It has a great selection of wine, beer, and liquor. A friend went there for the preview and told me the employees had ten days of wine training. Swell. The employees were very helpful and nice, and they have a great selection of adult beverages. The one downside was the wine tasting. I wasn’t going to do it, but thought that I might as well. I had to go to the front of the store, show my I.D. and get a teeny wine glass and some tickets. Then I went to a wine tasting area, and stood around with a half-​dozen other people for about five minutes while the wine guy was pouring different tastings for four customers. It was very Costco-​esque. I finally had to ask the guy when he was going to pour for the rest of us. I got a snotty reply that he had two more pours to go. I asked how long that would be, and he said two minutes or so. I’m not the patient type, so I left the glass and walked away. Recommendations: 1. Send the server to a wine tasting room so that he can see how it’s done. 2. Lose the attitude. This place will do okay because it has a huge inventory at cheap prices. For me? Meh. A month ago I had the Taylors (Taylor Shellfish: as good as it gets) cater a shellfish party for 30 people. I called Jim and Mary at the Wine Loft and asked them to put a case of whites together for me that would pair nicely with shellfish. I drove by after work, picked up the wine, and it was great. I’ll pay a premium for that. And they will continue to get my business.