St. Petersburg is getting a new wine shop and gourmet grocer from a big name

Calling all oenophiles: If you thought the market for wine shop/bar hybrids in St. Petersburg had reached peak saturation, think again.

Volta Wine & Provisions, a new specialty wine shop, will open early 2025 in downtown St. Pete. And really, is there ever such a thing as too much wine?

There’s plenty that will set the spot apart from some of the ‘burg’s other wine concepts. For one, wine is just part of the equation: The shop will also function as a food and retail market, with a focus on small-batch producers, and imported pantry staples and goods sourced from Florida and across the Southeast. Think: Italian olive oils, tinned fish from Spain and Portugal, milled-to-order flour from the Carolinas, local honey and cultured butter.

Husband-and-wife duo Zach Pace and Rachelle Tomushev are behind the new project. Until very recently, Pace was the chief operating officer at Ten Rooms, the recently shuttered restaurant, bar and retail hub in Ybor City.

The couple relocated from San Francisco, California, to St. Petersburg, and Pace said the idea for the shop was hatched almost immediately after they settled in.

“When we visited, even just scoping the place out we saw a huge hole in the market for wine retail and specialty foods really well done,” Pace said.

Before working at Ten Rooms, Pace racked up an impressive resume working as an wine importer and sommelier and later as the beverage director at two-Michelin star restaurant Lazy Bear and the director of operations at Aphotic, another Michelin starred restaurant, both in San Francisco.

Once Volta opens, the shop will stock hundreds of wines, beer and sake from around the world, with a focus on “well-made, honest wines” including organic and biodynamic selections, Pace said. The goal is to one day stock the most extensive selection of Champagne and sparkling wines in the Tampa Bay area. There will also be a 10- to 12-seat bar as well as a vinyl listening lounge featuring rare and classic vinyl and the occasional guest DJ.

Pace said the shop’s exact location is still a bit up in the air. They’re eyeing two locations, but he said Volta will definitely be in the downtown St. Pete area.