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Wine Winners: The Wine Exchange has moved to larger quarters next to the Mall of Orange.

“The new facility is one block down and just across the street from our old store, but now we have 50% more usable floor space,” general partner Steve Zanotti said. The move will allow wines that were sitting in back rooms to be moved out on the sales floor.

Another major wine seller in Orange County, the Wine Club in Santa Ana, reports business is booming. The store’s sales have increased from $3 million in 1989 to $8 million this year. The average sale to each customer is two cases of wine costing a total of $280.

Wine Club owner Ron Loutherback started out running a deli and wine shop. He held wine tastings in which customers could come and take notes, but sales didn’t increase. He found that many were buying their wines at discounter Trader Joe’s.

So Loutherback decided to combine wine expertise with discount prices by creating the Wine Club. He says the combination has been a huge hit.