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How Sandy's Shack is born

Our long story, short ;-)

Alex and I arrived in Ocala in August 2021 and literally fell in love with the amazing landscape and the hearty peoples of the booming region.

But it soon became obvious that in terms of overall gastronomy, the city was in need of polishing and more choices. In this regard, we were in front of a very pressing need: simply... good wines!

In Canada, where we come from, only the government can sell alcohol and benefit from the revenue from those sales. However, the choice was greater than what was offered in Ocala.

This sounded pretty odd to us... So, out of nowhere, Alex came up with a simple and handy solution... let’s bring them in! Why not open our own store and give access to Ocala residents an amazing choice from all around the world!

While we were slowly building the plan, we thought: why not add the imported beer as well? And while we were in it... why not provide a location for the American craft beer?

I, on my side, marketing wise, I was pretty sure that, without a soul, the place was doomed to die young so I thought: why wouldn't we add a gift shop section which will, at the same time, give some warmth to the place...

The Love and magic operated the first day the signs were up and we couldn't be more grateful! We were not even open yet! The suppliers, the delivery guys, all the people passing by were happy to see what we had been planning for months: a nice little store close to the people :-)

ALWAYS in a boutique manner, ALWAYS close to the people, but with a “big shot” purchasing department to ensure an absolute wide offer at the best price in our capacities! And that was it :-)

And since then, we are ALWAYS trying to be better than yesterday!